South Sudan tops list of world's most fragile states

The newly born nation, South Sudan, reportedly features on top of the list of most fragile states in this year's index released by a leading US-based research institute.

According to the BBC, chronic instability, fractured leadership and growing ethnic conflict made it the most fragile state, The Fund for Peace said.

Interestingly, countries that acquired the top six slots on the index are all in sub-Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan was listed as the seventh most fragile state followed by Yemen, Haiti and Pakistan. Syria is 15th, the report said.

The index has been compiled by the research institute after careful analysis of social, economic and political indicators for the past ten years.