Two breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis
How far each nation’s capability index falls when this scenario’s load is applied to its capability scores, after its own buffers absorb what they can.
Third illustrative run, on the second-pass scenario set. The capability scores are candidate ratings and the test settings were drafted with the scenario records in the second pass; neither has been adopted. Scores are from the GINC National Capability Index 2026, which describes them as candidate ratings. Exposure is set nation by nation from the CIA World Factbook 2025 and the scenario’s regional exposure. Results show the method working on real scores; they are not findings about any nation. How the tests work.
- Typical nation
- −0.44
- median change in index, points
- Hardest hit
- −1.31
- Sudan
- Lose a domain band
- 133
- of 197 nations
- Worth of best practice
- +0.20
- mean points recovered over current plans
Change in index, by region
One dot per nation. The bar marks each region’s mean. Further left is a larger fall.
- Region mean
Does capability protect?
Each nation’s baseline index against its fall. Stronger nations absorb more of the shock, so they sit higher; so do nations with low exposure.
- North America
- Europe
- China
- Indo-Pacific
- South Asia
- Gulf and Middle East
- Africa
- Latin America and Caribbean
- Russia and Eurasia
Where the load lands
Mean change in each capability domain across all nations.
Capability domainMean change, points
Financial Strength
Strategic Infrastructure
Governance & Integrity
Human Capital
Information & Influence
Trade & Investment
Production & Innovation
National Security
Critical Technology
−0.68
−0.66
−0.64
−0.63
−0.60
−0.58
−0.51
−0.22
−0.20
What policy is worth
The 20 hardest-hit nations under three policy responses. The distance from no response to current plans is what current buffers absorb; from current plans to best practice is what best practice would add.
All 197 nations
Rank shift is the change in the nation’s place among all nations once every index is stressed: up means it held up better than its neighbours. The weakest point is the capability left lowest among those the scenario singles out.
197 of 197 nations
Nation | Region | Exposure | Baseline | Stressed | Change | % | Rank shift | Bands lost | Absorbed | Weakest point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sudan | Africa | High 0.97 | 2.61 | 1.30 | −1.31 | −50.0 | ▼ 7 | 23 · 3d | 12% | Monetary & Currency Capability 0 · Inception |
| Niger | Africa | High 0.94 | 3.07 | 1.86 | −1.21 | −39.5 | ▼ 10 | 31 · 6d | 15% | Energy Infrastructure 0.9 · Inception |
| Somalia | Africa | High 0.96 | 1.62 | 0.45 | −1.17 | −72.0 | ▼ 2 | 4 | 8% | Energy Infrastructure 0 · Inception |
| Yemen | Gulf and Middle East | High 0.94 | 1.62 | 0.47 | −1.15 | −70.8 | ▼ 1 | 6 | 8% | Energy Infrastructure 0 · Inception |
| Palestine | Gulf and Middle East | High 0.89 | 3.72 | 2.57 | −1.14 | −30.8 | ▼ 10 | 27 · 4d | 16% | Energy Infrastructure 0.6 · Inception |
| Benin | Africa | High 0.92 | 4.09 | 2.96 | −1.13 | −27.7 | ▼ 14 | 29 · 4d | 20% | Energy Infrastructure 1.2 · Inception |
| Togo | Africa | High 0.92 | 4.05 | 2.93 | −1.13 | −27.8 | ▼ 15 | 28 · 1d | 20% | Energy Infrastructure 1.5 · Inception |
| Djibouti | Africa | High 0.90 | 3.20 | 2.09 | −1.11 | −34.8 | ▼ 10 | 29 · 6d | 18% | Energy Infrastructure 0.7 · Inception |
| Mauritania | Africa | High 0.85 | 3.58 | 2.51 | −1.07 | −30.0 | ▼ 8 | 30 · 4d | 18% | Energy Infrastructure 1.7 · Inception |
| Syria | Gulf and Middle East | High 0.80 | 2.22 | 1.16 | −1.07 | −48.0 | ▼ 5 | 19 · 2d | 10% | Monetary & Currency Capability 0 · Inception |
| Comoros | Africa | High 0.83 | 2.29 | 1.23 | −1.06 | −46.4 | ▼ 5 | 21 · 3d | 12% | Energy Infrastructure 0 · Inception |
| Iran | Gulf and Middle East | High 0.93 | 8.17 | 7.16 | −1.00 | −12.3 | ▼ 5 | 24 · 3d | 31% | Monetary & Currency Capability 4.1 · Nascent |
| Sierra Leone | Africa | High 0.80 | 3.59 | 2.59 | −1.00 | −27.9 | ▼ 5 | 20 · 6d | 17% | Energy Infrastructure 1.1 · Inception |
| Afghanistan | South Asia | High 0.80 | 1.46 | 0.47 | −0.99 | −67.8 | 0 | 9 | 9% | Diplomatic Statecraft & Global Networks 0 · Inception |
| Kenya | Africa | High 0.89 | 7.18 | 6.19 | −0.98 | −13.7 | ▼ 9 | 26 | 30% | Water, Sanitation & Waste Infrastructure 5.1 · Nascent |
| Zimbabwe | Africa | High 0.76 | 4.34 | 3.36 | −0.97 | −22.5 | ▼ 8 | 17 · 3d | 18% | Monetary & Currency Capability 1.1 · Inception |
| Madagascar | Africa | High 0.77 | 3.90 | 2.94 | −0.97 | −24.8 | ▼ 7 | 15 · 1d | 19% | Energy Infrastructure 1.9 · Inception |
| Senegal | Africa | High 0.87 | 6.42 | 5.45 | −0.96 | −15.0 | ▼ 10 | 30 · 2d | 30% | Energy Infrastructure 4.3 · Nascent |
| Guinea | Africa | High 0.74 | 3.15 | 2.20 | −0.94 | −30.0 | ▼ 5 | 24 · 7d | 15% | Energy Infrastructure 1.8 · Inception |
| Congo | Africa | High 0.71 | 3.19 | 2.27 | −0.92 | −28.7 | ▼ 3 | 29 · 5d | 15% | Energy Infrastructure 1.9 · Inception |
| Eritrea | Africa | High 0.69 | 2.01 | 1.09 | −0.92 | −45.9 | ▼ 3 | 12 · 1d | 10% | Monetary & Currency Capability 0.1 · Inception |
| Algeria | Africa | High 0.84 | 6.96 | 6.05 | −0.90 | −13.0 | ▼ 8 | 27 · 4d | 31% | Monetary & Currency Capability 5.3 · Nascent |
| Equatorial Guinea | Africa | High 0.69 | 2.80 | 1.91 | −0.89 | −31.8 | 0 | 27 · 4d | 15% | Agriculture & Food Infrastructure 1.5 · Inception |
| Haiti | Latin America and Caribbean | High 0.66 | 2.03 | 1.14 | −0.89 | −43.7 | ▼ 3 | 10 | 10% | Internal Security & Order 0.2 · Inception |
| Cuba | Latin America and Caribbean | High 0.74 | 5.95 | 5.06 | −0.88 | −14.9 | ▼ 10 | 21 · 3d | 24% | Monetary & Currency Capability 1.6 · Inception |
Showing 1–25 of 197 nations · page 1 of 8
Settings of this run
- Load
11 capability groups singled out, 73 loaded in all, of 73. A band on the capability scale is three points wide, so a High load moves a fully exposed, unprotected capability down one band. A capability group that the scenario does not single out takes its domain's load one level lower.
- Singled out
- Agriculture & Food Infrastructure· High
- Energy Infrastructure· High
- Water, Sanitation & Waste Infrastructure· High
- Early Childhood Development· High
- Population Health· High
- Diplomatic Statecraft & Global Networks· High
- Internal Security & Order· High
- Government Effectiveness & Public Administration· High
- Monetary & Currency Capability· High
- Fiscal Capacity & Public Finance· High
- Trade Facilitation & Logistics· High
- Buffers
- Agriculture & Food Infrastructure
- Water, Sanitation & Waste Infrastructure
- National Resilience & Crisis Management
- Fiscal Capacity & Public Finance
- Sovereign Capital & External Financial Power
- Trade Facilitation & Logistics
Absorption is the nation's mean score on the scenario's buffer capabilities as a share of the top of the scale, times 0.75: a nation at the frontier on every buffer absorbs three quarters of the shock.
- Exposure
staple foods among the top five imports (35%); regional exposure (30%); little renewable water per head (ranked) (20%); few months of imports covered by reserves (ranked) (15%). Exposure is set nation by nation: a weighted blend of indicators from the 2025 World Factbook and the scenario's regional exposure. Where a nation does not report an indicator, its weight passes to the others.
- Likelihood
4 per cent over three years and 15 per cent over ten, as used in the vulnerability index.