Risk categories Economic Environmental Geopolitical Societal TechnologicalGeoeconomic confrontation Misinformation and disinformation Societal polarization Extreme weather events State-based armed con flict Cyber insecurity Inequality Erosion of human rights and/or of civic freedoms Pollution Involuntary migration or displacement1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.Extreme weather events Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse Critical change to Earth systems Misinformation and disinformation Adverse outcomes of AI technologies Natural resource shortages Inequality Cyber insecurity Societal polarization Pollution 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.Short term (2 years) Long term (10 years) Source World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2025-2026FIGURE 3 Global risks ranked by severity, short term (2 years) and long term (10 years) "Please estimate the likely impact (severity) of the following risks over a 2-year and 10-year period." Crime and illicit economic activity Critical change to Earth systems Biological, chemical or nuclear weapons or hazards Geoeconomic confrontation Economic downturn Asset bubble burst Inﬂation Inequality Lack of economic opportunity or unemployment Insuf ficient public infrastructure and social protections Infectious diseases Non-weather related natural disasters 7 8 8 8 Disruptions to critical infrastructure 4 12 5 Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse 5 7 Pollution 3 23rd 24th 26th 28th 9th 1st 11th 21st 18th 22nd 7th 13th 20th 27th 32ndStable level of concern Biggest increase in ranking Biggest fall in ranking Overall rankingChange in short-term (2 years) global risks perception from last year FIGURE 4 Source World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2025-2026Risk categories Economic Environmental Geopolitical Societal Technological 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. Section Global Risks Report 2026 9