Considering social unrest, poverty, security problems, and everything else, the United States looks pretty bad compared to its northern neighbor.
Canada is one of the world's most stable countries, while the U.S. is only moderately stable, according to the 2013 Failed States index from Foreign Policy and The Fund For Peace.
The methodology for the list includes 12 categories and then subsequent sub-categories.
The U.S. only beat Canada in one category — Human Flight and Brain Drain — and tied one other — Foreign Intervention. Obviously plenty of people come to the United States for work, and nobody intervenes militarily or diplomatically in U.S. issues, nor do they in Canada's, because let's be honest, Canada doesn't bother anyone.
Here's the breakdown of Canada vs. the U.S. in all 12 categories , which higher numbers represent worse ratings:
Demographic Pressures (disease, natural disasters, infant mortality, etc.):
Canada: 2.6
America: 3.0
Refugess and Internally Displaced People:
Canada: 2.1
America: 2.3
Group Grievances:
Canada: 3.1
America: 4.2
Poverty and Economic Decline:
Canada: 1.8
America: 3.2
Uneven Development (disparity):
Canada: 3.5
America: 4.8
Legitimacy of the State:
Canada: 1.5
America: 2.3
Public Services:
Canada: 2.0
America: 2.4
Human Rights:
Canada: 2.0
America: 3.2
Security Apparatus:
Canada: 1.8
America: 2.2
Factionalized Elites (political brinksmanship):
Canada: 2.5
America: 3.9
Each of the 12 categories were added to rank the countries.
The U.S. scored 33.5, which was better than 158 countries. Canda scored 26.0, which was better than 167 countries.
The most failed state of the year was Somalia, with a score of 113, and the least was Finland, with a score of 18.