The Fragile States Index (FSI) is an annual classification of 178 States based on the various pressures they face affecting their levels of vulnerability and relies on the analytical approach of the Conflict Assessment System tool. The Peace Fund’s (CAST), based on the comprehensive social science methodology, identifies three basic data flows – quantitative, qualitative, and verification – that are subject to critical review for final (FSI) scores. Millions of documents are analyzed each year, and through the application of highly specialized research criteria, the scores for each country are broken down by 12 major political, social, and economic indicators and more than 100 sub-indicators are the results of years of specialized research in the social sciences.
