Misinformation and disinformation, extreme weather events, state-based armed conflicts, societal polarization and cyber espionage and warfare are the Top 5 short-term (2 years) risks according to the World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2024-2025.

Crafted with insights from over 900+ risk experts, the 20th edition of the report produced by the World Economic Forum in partnership with Marsh McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, clearly outlines the major risk issues leaders like you will face and provides practical steps to confidently plan for what's ahead.

Expanding the timeframe to a decade, the survey’s results show that 4 out of the Top 5 identified risks are nature related: extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, critical change to Earth systems and natural resource shortages. They are followed, ranking 5th, by misinformation and disinformation.

“As we enter 2025, the global outlook is increasingly fractured across geopolitical, environmental, societal, economic and technological domains. Over the last year we have witnessed the expansion and escalation of conflicts, a multitude of extreme weather events amplified by climate change, widespread societal and political polarization, and continued technological advancements accelerating the spread of false or misleading information. Optimism is limited as the danger of miscalculation or misjudgment by political and military actors is high. We seem to be living in one of the most divided times since the Cold War, and this is reflected in the results of the GRPS, which reveal a bleak outlook across all three time horizons – current, short-term and long-term,” the introductory article of the report reads.

Compared with the previous editions of the survey, it seems that the interviewed risk experts have a more pessimistic outlook for the world to 2027. Moreover, the landscape further deteriorates over the 10-year timeframe, reflecting respondent skepticism that current societal mechanisms and governing institutions are capable of navigating and mending the fragility generated by the risks we face today.

Read the full report here.