The United Nations should adopt what I call the Covid-19 criteria as a basis for recognising a nation as an independent and sovereign state going forward

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) To be recognised as a sovereign nation you must have a gross domestic product (GDP) that is at least 50 times the size of your population. For instance, a country of 200m people should at the very least have a GDP of $1trn

(2) A nation should be able to meet at least 70% of its food needs through domestic production

(3) A nation must be self-sufficient when it comes to the production of health and medical equipment

(4) A nation must be self-sufficient when it comes to the production of pharmaceutical drugs

(5) A nation should have the capacity to stockpile at least six months worth of food supplies in case of an emergency

(6) A nation should have foreign reserves that are at least half the size of its GDP

(7) A nation must be able to produce the necessary equipment required to defend itself and provide security

(8) Every nation must spend at least a quarter of its annual budget on education and training

(9) Every nation must have a tax-to-GDP ratio of no less than 25%

(10) Every nation’s budget must be at least one tenth of its GDP. For instance a nation with a GDP of $1trn should have an annual budget of at least $100bn