It’s still early days for the newly installed Biden Administration, but the country’s stability has been steadily dropping, according to the independent Fragile States Index (FSI) 2020. Over the past decade, several countries have become less fragile but the US has become less stable, it says. Its FSI score has worsened from 32.8 in 2008 to 38.3 in 2020 (the higher the score, the more fragile a country is). The US is among 20 countries that have seen the highest increase in relative fragility over the past decade — a list that includes Syria, Venezuela and the UK.

The insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, may have come as a surprise (shock, actually) to many. But not those that have been closely following the findings of the FSI. Produced annually by the nonprofit organization Fund for Peace, the index assesses pressures on individual countries that potentially undermine their stability.

The ongoing pandemic, the threat of a long-drawn economic recession, recurrent and, often, violent protests, and political turmoil do not bode well for the US’ fragility score this year. Even as the country remains resilient, the new administration has a mountain to climb if it wants to turn back the clock on the country’s fragility rankings.