The annual Global Risks Report 2023, released by the World Economic Forum, finds the cost of living crisis and climate change are the biggest short (2 years) and long-term (10 years) global risks right now, respectively.
Key points
- The 18th edition of the Global Risk Report 2023 is based on the 2022-2023 Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).
- The most-cited two-year term risks included natural disasters, geoeconomic confrontation, the erosion of social cohesion, widespread cybercrime, large-scale involuntary migration and natural resource crises, alongside climate change.
- Cybercrime and migration also featured as long-term risks, though climate-related issues took the top four spots.
- The cost of living was absent from the list.
- The report says the world must collaborate more effectively on climate mitigation and adaptation over the next decade, to avoid “ecological breakdown” and continued global warming.
- It says Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic had propelled the energy crisis, food scarcity and inflation as the most pressing global issues.
- The top five risks for India, are: 1 Digital inequality, 2 Geopolitical contestation of resources, 3 Cost-of-living crisis, 4 Debt crises and 5 Natural disasters and extreme weather events.
