The Global Risks Report 2021

What it contains

The 16th edition of the report draws on the Global Risks Perception Survey, completed by more than 650 members of the Forum’s leadership communities, and on the analysis of the Global Risks Advisory Board. Its executive summary states that the immediate human and economic cost of COVID-19 is severe, that it threatens to roll back years of progress in reducing poverty and inequality and to further weaken social cohesion and global cooperation, and that its ramifications, in the form of social unrest, political fragmentation and geopolitical tensions, will shape the response to the other key threats of the next decade: cyberattacks, weapons of mass destruction and, most notably, climate change.

According to the survey, among the highest-likelihood risks over ten years are extreme weather, climate action failure and human-led environmental damage, along with digital power concentration, digital inequality and cybersecurity failure. In the short term (0 to 2 years), respondents pointed to infectious diseases (58.0 %), livelihood crises (55.1 %) and extreme weather events (52.7 %) as critical threats; at 3 to 5 years, asset bubble bursts and IT infrastructure breakdown (both 53.3 %) and price instability; at 5 to 10 years, weapons of mass destruction (62.7 %), state collapse and biodiversity loss.

The report also analyzes the social, economic and industrial divisions that widen after the pandemic, digital inequality, youth disillusionment (“a doubly disrupted generation”) and the risk of a polarized industrial landscape, and concludes with proposals to strengthen resilience based on lessons from the pandemic and on historical risk analysis.

The site’s previous link returned an access error; the Forum’s official PDF is linked.

Summary prepared by the Dominican Republic Risk Management Club from a reading of the original document, with the source verified on 7 October 2026. It does not replace reading the official text and is not advice.

See all publications