In January 2026, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published the 21st edition of its annual risk assessment, titled ‘Global Risks Report: 21st Edition Insight 2026’. As per the report, the top global risks are geoeconomic confrontation, state-based conflict, extreme weather, social protection gaps, and misinformation.
- The 2026 global risks outlook is marked by pervasive uncertainty.
- Extreme weather has dropped from 2nd place to 4th place in the two-year outlook, but remains the most severe long-term (10-year) risk.
Exam Hints:
- What? Release of Global Risks Report 2026
- Released by: WEF
- Edition: 21st
- Source: Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) & Executive Opinion Survey (EOS)
- 3 Major Global Risks in 2026: Geoeconomic Confrontation (1st); State-based Armed Conflict (2nd); Extreme Weather Events (3rd);
- 5 Major Risks Faced by India: Cyber insecurity (1st); Inequality (2nd); insufficient public services and social protections (3rd).
About Global Risks Report 2026:
Source: The report is based on insights from the Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS), which gathers input from over 1,300 global leaders and experts, covering a list of 33 key global risks.
- The report also used the WEF’s Executive Opinion Survey (EOS 2026) to identify risks that pose the most severe threats to each country over the next two years, as identified by more than 11,000 business leaders in 116 economies.
Key Components: GRPS 2025-26 featured 4 key components, including risk landscape, consequences, risk governance, and outlook.
Key Time Horizons: This annual edition of the report examines global risks across 3 time horizons i.e. immediate (2026); short-to-medium term (to 2028) and long term(2036), revealing a reprioritisation of threats in the near future.
Key Findings:
Geoeconomic Confrontation: As per the Global Risks Perception Survey 2025-26 (GRPS) ranking, tops as the biggest risk for both immediate-term (2026) and two-year horizon, declines sharply to 19th place over the next 10 years.
State-based Armed Conflict: In the immediate term list, state-based armed conflict ranked at 2nd place after geoeconomic confrontation. It has been ranked at 5th position in the two-year outlook.
Non-Environmental Risk Dominance: As per the WEF’s report, non-environmental risks such as geoeconomic confrontation, misinformation and disinformation, societal polarization, among others, are projected to dominate policy attention over the next two years, replacing 4 key environmental threats i.e. extreme weather events; pollution; biodiversity loss and critical changes to earth systems.
Short Term Decline: In the two-year outlook, most environmental risks declined in both ranking and severity. Extreme weather dropped from 2nd place to 4th place, pollution from 6th place to 9th place, and critical changes to Earth systems and biodiversity loss fell seven and five places, respectively.
Top 5 Risks identified by EOS 2025:
Top Risks in Long Term: The report highlighted that extreme weather events emerged as the most significant risks in the long term (up to 2036); followed by biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (2nd); critical change to earth systems(3rd); misinformation and disinformation (4th)and adverse outcomes of AI technologies (5th), among others.
Key Risks Faced by India :The report has identified cyber insecurity as the major risk faced by India; followed by other risks which include inequality (wealth, income); insufficient public services and social protections (such as: education, infrastructure, pensions); economic downturn (recession and stagnation); and state-based armed conflict (proxy wars, civil wars, terrorism etc.)
About World Economic Forum (WEF):
President and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Børge Brende
Headquarters- Geneva Canton, Switzerland
Established in- 1971
