DUSHANBE, June 24, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan now ranks as the world’s 37th most unstable country ahead of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan that were ranked 42nd and 59th respectively, according to the 2009 Failed States Index, issued by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine.
Uzbekistan is ranked 31st on this list.
Tajikistan has declined steadily over the past three years, according to the index. It fell five places from 2006; in 2006, Tajikistan ranked 42nd. Tajikistan ranked 38th last year, but its score dropped in the following categories: demographic pressures, delegitimization of the state, rise of factionalized elites and widespread violation of human rights.
In the meantime, Georgia is ranked 34th and Russia is ranked 71st on the list of unstable states, while Kazakhstan and Ukraine are listed 105th and 110th respectively.
The United States think tank, the Fund for Peace and the magazine Foreign Policy, has published an annual index called the Failed States Index since 2005. The list only assesses sovereign states (determined by membership in the United Nations). Ranking is based on the total scores of the 12 indicators. For each indicator, the ratings are placed on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest intensity (most stable) and 10 being the highest intensity (least stable). The total score is the sum of the 12 indicators and is on a scale of 0-120.
The index”s ranks are based on twelve indicators of state vulnerability – four social, two economic and six political. The indicators are not designed to forecast when states may experience violence or collapse. Instead, they are meant to measure a state”s vulnerability to collapse or conflict.
177 states were included in the list for 2009, with Somalia ranking top as the most failed state in the world.
