Recent research from the United States publication Foreign Policy and the US NGO “Fund for Peace” has identified the twenty most vulnerable countries as: Ivory Coast, Congo, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Yemen, Liberia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Rwanda, North Korea, Colombia, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Bangladesh, Burundi, Dominican Republic and Central African Republic. Ten Latin American countries out of the list of sixty that run the risk of becoming what is described as “failed states” are: Haiti, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras.

The “failed states” ranking is based on twelve economic, social, political and military performance indicators.  Other organisations have different views.  The World Bank has identified about 30 “low-income countries under stress”; the UK's Department for International Development has named 46 “fragile” states of concern.  A report commissioned by the CIA has put the number of failing states at about 20.