The Fragile States Index (FSI) formerly known as the Failed States Index is published annually by the Fund for Peace and it focuses on the indicators of risk and is based on thousands of articles and reports that are processed by Fund for Peace CAST Software from electronically available sources. Based on comprehensive social science methodology, data from three primary sources is triangulated and subjected to critical review to obtain final scores for the Fragile 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 (Relief Web). The ALC Data Lab saw the need to present this Index to aid African Scholars, Researchers and Policy makers in their works on security themes across the continent.

Top 10 African Countries on the  2016 Fragile States Index

Ten African countries ranked among the world’s most fragile states according to the list, which compared 178 countries around the world. The world’s No. 1 most fragile state, Somalia received the highest points and the highest ranking on this list. On the other end, Finland ranked No. 178, the world’s least fragile country according to the factors that were measured.

Countries were given points and compared based on the following: demographic pressures, refugees and internally displaced people, group grievances, human flight, uneven economic development, economic decline, state legitimacy, public service, human rights and rule of law, security apparatus, fractionalized elites, and external intervention (FFP).

Further Reading:

• These are the world's most fragile states
• Is the Fragile States Index ‘fatally flawed’?