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An al-Shabab fighter poses for a photo in late 2010. Mohamed Sheikh Nor/AP/Press Association Images

Failed States: Top 10 best and worst countries in the world

Ireland’s position drops in this year’s rankings, according to the latest Failed States Index of 177 countries.

SOMALIA REMAINS the world’s most failed state, according to the latest annual Failed States Index compiled by the Fund for Peace. At the other end of the scale, Ireland is ranked 171st out of the 177 countries surveyed.

The index uses publicly available information to analyse countries across a range of factors from economic development to refugee flows.

Somalia, which hasn’t had an effective government since 1991, has repeatedly topped the index and was recently named in a separate report as one of the worst places in the world for women. The country’s women’s minister Maryan Qasim says that women face a daily struggle to feed their families and are constantly at risk of being raped and shot.

Somalia has seen the rise of Islamist extremists in recent years, with the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab particularly gaining strength.

Foreign Policy, which publishes the index results in partnership with the Fund for Peace, notes that Iraq and Afghanistan have moved down the ranking, suggesting both have improved somewhat on last year. Haiti, however, rose six places on last year’s position to number five in the index.

In photos: The top ten failed states, according to the Failed States Index 2011:

10. Ivory Coast
1 / 10
  • 10. Ivory Coast

    (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
  • 9. Iraq

    (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
  • 8. Central African Republic

    (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
  • 7. Afghanistan

    (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
  • 6. Zimbabwe

    (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
  • 5. Haiti

    (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
  • 4. Congo (DRC)

    (AP Photo/Pete Muller)
  • 3. Sudan

    (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
  • 2. Chad

    (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
  • 1. Somalia

    (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)

Ireland

Ireland secured the rank of 171 out of 177, down from last year’s position of 173, after the state was given poor scores under the sections “uneven economic development” and “poverty, sharp or severe economic decline”.

At the bottom of the rankings, the ten least-failed states are listed in the index as:

  1. Finland
  2. Norway
  3. Sweden
  4. Switzerland
  5. Denmark
  6. New Zealand
  7. Ireland
  8. Luxembourg
  9. Austria
  10. Canada

Read the 2011 Failed States Index in full >

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14 Comments
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    Mute Daffers
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 12:55 PM

    Wow. To be the 7th least failed state in the world is mindblowing… simply for the thought that most are in a worse position than us!

    58
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    Mute Alex simon
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 1:35 PM

    We are better than canada! And the usa not bad

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    Mute Treasa Lynch
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 1:21 PM

    Am I reading that right? Only three other EU members are less failed states than Ireland is?

    God that must really irritate the crew who consider us a complete banana republic.

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    Mute Kevin O Sullivan
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 1:03 PM

    i thought everything in the nordic countries was top banna. seeings they are always held up as the ones to be like

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    Mute Claire O'Dwyer
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 1:09 PM

    That article doesn’t make a whole pile of sense..

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    Mute fizi_water
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 2:57 PM

    This ranking is not about quality of life, etc. like some comments suggest you read that. It’s about peace and military risks in particular countries.

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    Mute Ryan Murphy
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 6:11 PM

    I suppose it’s “our” fault that seven of the ten worst countries are in Africa.

    Haiti was a cesspit ever before the tragedy there, sadly, and now they’ve turned to raping one another.

    Iraq and Afghanistan are a whole other story!

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    Mute fitszpatrick
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    Jun 24th 2011, 12:10 AM

    Hail the baldy Nazis dem dam nigras don’t have a clue

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    Mute Ryan Murphy
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    Jun 24th 2011, 1:23 AM

    You’re some gowl.

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    Mute David Higgins
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 6:05 PM

    I hope we can move up near Switzerland at some stage. Tighter borders, lower-taxes, and they have their own currency!!!

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    Mute Dave Finn
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 11:10 PM

    Lower taxes? Really? Any mid Europe states i’ve lived in were thieves when it came to tax! (admittedly i’ve not lived in Switzerland, but it is one of my favourite places!)

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    Mute Shaafici Cali
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 1:40 PM

    really this is propaganda somalia is not leading top list there is bit exageration we aware of that somalia is devastated country and failure state indicating humanitarian crises and human rights abuses ,killing ,abducting, hijacking raping but there is still hope to survive this condition we are not hopeless our people still struggling to control there live style and to restore the country peace and stability so that we are not top list becouse this means no hope

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    Mute fizi_water
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 3:03 PM

    Sorry, but what is actually your point, I struggle to understand? Thanks.

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    Mute wayupnorth
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 4:11 PM

    I think the point was that “there is hope”.

    And yes, if other countries stopped interfering, there probably would be. For example:
    “The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration’s war on terrorism …” etc etc. 1/8/2007

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