Curaçao According to the Fragile States Index: Vulnerable, but Not Without Hope

The Think To DO Institute was the first to map Curaçao’s vulnerability using the internationally recognized Fragile States Index. The conclusion: Curaçao falls within the most vulnerable quartile of countries. The biggest risks lie in fractured political elites, a one-dimensional economy, brain drain, the Venezuelan refugee crisis, and strikingly a structural lack of reliable data. The report closes with 41 concrete recommendations.

The Index measures social, economic, and political pressure across five areas: cohesion, politics, economics, social/cross-cutting factors, and the capacity of the state. Curaçao scores particularly weakly on factionalism within its governance (nine governments since 10-10-10), an economy that has leaned on a single sector for a century, and unemployment that rose sharply during the pandemic. A recurring theme is that the absence of up-to-date data is itself a vulnerability: without good figures, sound policy cannot be made.

Smallness, the report argues, is no excuse examples like Malta and Iceland show that small island states can be resilient. The question the report leaves open: will Curaçao rise to the challenge?