South Sudan ranks fourth in the annual table of failed states prepared by The Fund for Peace.
Foreign Policy website published the Failed States Index 2013 on Monday.The index groups states into critical, in danger, borderline, stable and most stable categories.
The index analyzes 178 countries under 12 indicators: demographic pressure, refugees/IDPs, group grievance, human flight, uneven development, economic decline, deligitimization of the state, public services, human rights, security, factionalized elites, and external intervention.
The top five critical countries are Somalia, DR Congo, Sudan, South Sudan and Chad.
The Fund for Peace senior associate JJ Messner writes about South Sudan: “There was much rejoicing at the birth of the world’s newest country in 2011. As it turns out, independence was not a panacea. Violence continues, sometimes perpetrated by those in state uniforms, sometimes along ethnic lines.”
Somalia heads the table of failed states for the past six years.
Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark are the top five most stable states.
Fund for Peace publishes the Failed States Index since 2005.