Failing States Determined Largely By A Population's Demographics
Each year, the Fund for Peace publishes a list of "failing states" that they catalog according to "their vulnerability to violent conflict and societal deterioration." They use twelve social, economic and political indicators - ranked 0-10 - so a combined score of 120 would mean a state is failing on every level. For instance, the top failed state in the world is Somalia with a score of 113.4, while Finland has the lowest score of only 19.7 (with the U.S. coming in at 34.8). What is particularly compelling, given the Mountainfilm focus on population is how much demographics impacts these scores. Almost all of the failing states have about 70% of their population under the age of thirty, compared to 35% or so for the stable countries.