Annual Failed States Index Reveals Link to Rapid Population Growth

Every year Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace release a Failed States Index that offers a detailed assessment of which nations are on the verge of failing. This year’s list of the top failing states does not contain many surprises. They include such headline-grapping failures as Somalia, Sudan Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  One thing they all have in common is rapid and unsustainable population growth.  The Failed States Index rated every one of the top ten failed states for “demographic pressures” at 8.1 or higher on a scale of 1-10.  Somalia and Zimbabwe, the top two failed states, ranked 9.6 and 9.4, respectively. The total population of the top ten failed states is estimated at 397 million in 2009, and it is expected to double by 2050.

More information on the connection between population and failing states is available on our website:  http://blog.populationinstitute.org/2010/06/22/failing-but-still-growing/