DUSHANBE, August 16, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan is among the 60 most vulnerable states listed in the world’s “Failed State Index,” which is a select list of places with serious governance problems.   

In a ranking analyzing 177 different countries, Tajikistan with 88.9 scores was ranked 37th.

Among a subset of 60 states, which were rated especially unstable, Kyrgyzstan took the 39th place in the rating and Uzbekistan was ranked 26th.  

Because it is crucial to closely monitor weak states—their progress, their deterioration, and their ability to withstand challenges -- the Fund for Peace, an independent research organization, and Foreign Policy presented the fourth annual Failed States Index in late July.  Using 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, they ranked 177 states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration.  To do so, they examined more than 30,000 publicly available sources, collected from May to December 2007, to form the basis of the index’s scores.