The stability of nanoporous materials as a result of surface interaction forces has been considered in this paper. We show that cylindrical pores in linear elastic materials will collapse if alpha = gamma/muA > 2. As one would expect physically, smaller cavities tend to be more unstable for the same surface energy and material properties as a result of the high internal Laplace pressure. Extensions to account for large deformation and strain-hardening effects and for viscoelastic materials are discussed.