Extreme weather events retains its position as the top risk for 2036, with half of the top 10 risks environmental in nature, similar to last year (Figure 16). Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse retains its position at #2, followed by Critical change to Earth systems at #3. Natural resource shortages at #6 has declined by two positions since last year, with Pollution at #10, like last year. Unlike in the two-year outlook, where these have declined in rankings, the existential nature of environmental risks means they remain as the top priorities over the next decade across stakeholders and age groups. The only broadly environmental risk that is not present as a top concern is Non- weather related natural disasters, ranking #33 on the 10-year outlook. Among the specific risks surveyed, Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is the risk with the sharpest worsening in its severity score from the two-year outlook to the 10-year outlook.The path to 2036: over the edge?1.3 Inequality Pollution Cyber insecurity Natural resource shortages Adverse outcomes of AI technologies Extreme weather events Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse Misinformation and disinformation Societal polarization Critical change to Earth systems 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Global risks ranked by severity, long term (10 years) FIGURE 16 Source World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2025-2026"Please estimate the likely impact (severity) of the following risks over a 10-year period." Risk categories Economic Environmental Geopolitical Societal Technological Technological risks are also anticipated to worsen in severity over the next decade, with Adverse outcomes of AI technologies and Adverse outcomes of frontier technologies among the risks anticipated to experience some of the largest increases in severity score from the two- year outlook to the 10-year outlook (Figure 17). Misinformation and disinformation and Adverse outcomes of AI technologies have both increased one position in this year’s ranking compared to last year, to #4 and #5, respectively. Progress in both AI and quantum technologies are likely to accelerate over the next decade as each fuels further breakthroughs in the other, with potentially cascading risk impacts, including in the context of rising geoeconomic confrontation. Societal risks are a dominant feature across time horizons, with Inequality at #7 and Societal polarization at #9 in the 10-year risk ranking. While the vast majority of global risks are anticipated to worsen over the next decade, one risk was expected by respondents to improve in severity score: Geoeconomic confrontation (#19) declines 18 positions from the two-year to the 10-year outlook. When asked about their geopolitical outlook for the world, responses are slightly more negatively skewed over the next two years than over the 10-year horizon. This finding suggests that while the outlook is still pessimistic, geopolitical risks are not anticipated to worsen over the next decade. Economic risks are absent from the top 10 rankings when it comes to the outlook for the next decade, featuring primarily at the lower end of the risk ranking. However, there is a general upward movement in severity across economic risks, with Concentration of strategic resources and technologies (#11) and Disruptions to critical infrastructure (#23) both rising two positions compared to last year, and Debt (#17), Asset bubble burst (#27) and Economic downturn (#24) each rising three positions. Crime and illicit economic activity (#29) has the largest decline since last year’s survey, by 14 positions. While geopolitical and economic risks do not feature as top long-term risks among the entire set of respondents, when looking at age cohorts, those Global Risks Report 2026 19