Failed States Index

Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace have put out the 2009 Failed States Index. Here's the top (bottom?) 10.

1. Somalia
2. Zimbabwe
3. Sudan
4. Chad
5. Democratic Republic of Congo
6. Iraq
7. Afghanistan
8. Central African Republic
9. Guinea
10. Pakistan

Here's the fancy map. Click a country to see how they rank.

Personally, I think Zimbabwe is worse than Somalia. Peter Leeson suggests Somalia isn't (or at least wasn't) as bad as people say. Ben Powell has a paper with Ryan Ford and Alex Nowrasteh titled “Somalia After State Collapse: Chaos or Improvement?” forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

HT: Astrid Arca