Fragile States Index 2019: How did Sierra Leone rank?


'Who's Up? Who's down?' No doubt, the most secure places in the world are rich, western nations. They include Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden, where life is generally stable. You don't need data and an index to know the most fragile countries are wracked by conflict: Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Chad.

In the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), many of the 15 members dominate the subset of most fragile states, according to the index. Yet there is a glimmer of hope.

Ghana, Benin, and Senegal are where others in the region would like to be. For context, Ghana is the most secure place in West Africa, while Guinea, Sierra Leone's neighbor, is one of the most fragile. Here's how ECOWAS, with all its resource riches, stacked up. Or down.

Guinea 11
Nigeria 14
Niger 18
Guinea Bissau 19
Mali 21
Cote d'Ivoire 29
Liberia 30
Togo 38
Sierra Leone 39
Burkina Faso 47
The Gambia 47
Equatorial Guinea 53
Senegal 66
Benin 75
Cape Verde 106
Ghana 110

The Fragile States Index, which was released by the Fund for Peace (FFP),  works to prevent conflict and promote sustainable security globally by building relationships and trust across diverse sectors. 

The Fragile States Index is a critical tool in highlighting not only the normal pressures that all states experience, but also in identifying when those pressures are pushing a state towards the brink of failure. By highlighting pertinent issues in weak and failing states, The Fragile States Index—and the social science framework and software application upon which it is built—makes a political risk assessment and early warning of conflict accessible to policy-makers and the public at large.

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