[...]The Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) has underpinned the Global Risks Report for two decades and is the World Economic Forum’s premier source of original global risks data. This year’s GRPS has brought together insights on the evolving global risks landscape from over 1,300 experts across academia, business, government, international organizations and civil society. Responses for the GRPS 2025-2026 were collected between 12 August and 22 September 2025. “Global risk” is defined as the possibility of the occurrence of an event or condition that, if it occurs, would negatively impact a significant proportion of global GDP, population or natural resources. [...]

The Global Risks Report 2026, the 21st edition of this annual report, marks the second half of a turbulent decade. The report analyses global risks through three timeframes to support decisionmakers in balancing current crises and longer-term priorities. Chapter 1 presents the findings of this year’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS), which captures insights from over 1,300 experts worldwide. It explores risks in the current or immediate term (in 2026), the short-to-medium term (to 2028) and in the long term (to 2036). Chapter 2 explores the range of implications of these risks and their interconnections, through six in-depth analyses of selected themes. Below are the key findings of the report, in which we compare the risk outlooks across the three-time horizons.

Uncertainty is the defining theme of the global risks outlook in 2026. GRPS respondents viewed both the short- and long-term global outlook negatively, with 50% of respondents anticipating either a turbulent or stormy outlook over the next two years, deteriorating to 57% of respondents over the next 10 years (Figure 1). A further 40% and 32%, respectively, view the global outlook as unsettled over the two- and 10-year time frames, with only 1% anticipating a calm outlook across each time horizon. [...]

Technological risks are growing, largely unchecked

Technological developments and new innovations are driving opportunities, with vast potential benefits from health and education to agriculture and infrastructure, but also leading to new risks across domains, from labour markets to information integrity to autonomous weapons systems. Misinformation and disinformation and Cyber insecurity ranked #2 and #6, respectively, on the two-year outlook. Adverse outcomes of AI is the risk with the largest rise in ranking over time, moving from #30 on the two-year outlook to #5 on the 10-year outlook. Section 2.7: AI at large explores how, over the next decade, AI could impact labour markets, societies and global security. Conversely, Adverse outcomes of frontier technologies, which moves from #33 in the two-year ranking to #25 in the 10-year ranking (Figure 5), remains relatively low overall. [...]

Societies are on the edge

Rising societal and political polarization is intensifying pressures on democratic systems, as extremist social, cultural and political movements challenge institutional resilience and public trust. The growing prevalence of “streets versus elites” narratives reflect deepening disillusionment with traditional governance structures, leaving many citizens feeling excluded from political decisionmaking processes and increasingly skeptical that policy-making can deliver tangible improvements to livelihoods. Inequality was selected by respondents as the most interconnected global risk for a second year running, followed closely by Economic downturn (Figure 6). In parallel, Misinformation and disinformation in second position in the two-year timeframe, below Geoeconomic confrontation, remains an acute global concern. As wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few, while cost of living pressures remain high, permanently K-shaped economies are becoming a risk, calling the social contract and its financing into question. Section 2.3: Values at war explores how societal and political polarization may deepen over the next two years as technology becomes more embedded in daily life and geoeconomic tensions persist, heightening the risks of increased digital distrust and dilution of socio-environmental progress.

Environmental concerns are being deprioritized [...]