The Failed States Index is an annual ranking of 177 nations based on their levels of stability and capacity. First published in 2005, the Failed States Index continues to be a globally recognized, frequently cited and widely praised research product of an independent non-governmental organization that addresses key 21st century international security challenges.

Leaders and thinkers from government, international organizations, NGO, academia and the media use and refer to the Failed States Index because it is empirically based and has proven to be objective and relevant. Perhaps the most telling barometer of its credibility is the steady increase in the number of governments that respond to it, by seeking ways to improve their standing in the Failed States Index or using it as a component in making decisions related to foreign assistance.

The Failed States Index is based on The Fund for Peace’s proprietary Conflict Assessment Software Tool (CAST) analytical platform. Based on comprehensive social science methodology, data from three primary sources is triangulated and subjected to critical review to obtain final scores for the Failed States Index.

Millions of documents are analyzed every year, and by applying highly specialized search parameters, scores are apportioned for every country based on twelve key political, social and economic indicators and over 100 sub-indicators that are the result of years of painstaking expert social science research.