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The Global Risks Report 2018, 13th Edition, is
published by the World Economic Forum.
The information in this report, or on which
this report is based, has been obtained from
sources that the authors believe to be reliable
and accurate. However, it has not been
independently verifed and no representation or
warranty, express or implied, is made as to the
accuracy or completeness of any information
obtained from third parties. In addition, the
statements in this report may provide current
expectations of future events based on certain
assumptions and include any statement that
does not directly relate to a historical fact
or a current fact. These statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which are not exhaustive. The
companies contributing to this report operate
in a continually changing environment and
new risks emerge continually. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
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or update any statements, whether as a result
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World Economic Forum
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World Economic Forum
2018 – All rights reserved.
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World Economic Forum.
ISBN: 978-1-944835-15-6
REF:09012018
The report and an interactive data platform are
available at http://wef.ch/risks2018
Likelihood
Global Risks Landscape
Im
p
ac
t
Top 10 risks in terms of
Likelihood
Categories
Top 10 risks in terms of
Impact
Weapons of mass destruction
Extreme weather events
Natural disasters
Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation
Water crises
Cyberattacks
Food crises
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
Large-scale involuntary migration
Spread of infectious diseases
Extreme weather events
Natural disasters
Cyberattacks
Data fraud or theft
Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation
Large-scale involuntary migration
Man-made environmental disasters
Terrorist attacks
Illicit trade
Asset bubbles in a major economy246810246810
5.0
1.05.0
plottedarea
3.40
average
average
3.48
2.53.04.04.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
Asset bubbles in a major
economy
Deflation
Failure of financialmechanism or institution
Failure of criticalinfrastructure
Fiscal crises
Unemployment orunderemployment
Illicit trade
Energy price shock
Unmanageable inflation
Extreme weather events
Failure of climate-change
mitigation and adaptation
Biodiversity loss and
ecosystem collapse
Natural disasters
Man-made environmental
disasters
Failure of nationalgovernance
Failure of regional orglobal governance
Interstate conflict
Terrorist attacks
State collapse or crisis
Weapons of mass destruction
Failure of urban planning
Food crises
Large-scale
involuntary migration
Profound socialinstability
Spread of infectiousdiseases
Water crises
Critical informationinfrastructure breakdown
Cyberattacks
Data fraud or theft
Adverse consequences oftechnological advances
Economic
Geopolitical
Environmental
Societal
Technological
Figure I: The Global Risks Landscape 2018
Source: World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2017–2018.
Note: Survey respondents were asked to assess the likelihood of the individual global risk on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 representing a risk that is very unlikely to happen and 5 a risk
that is very likely to occur. They also assess the impact on each global risk on a scale of 1 to 5 (1: minimal impact, 2: minor impact, 3: moderate impact, 4: severe impact and
5: catastrophic impact). See Appendix B for more details. To ensure legibility, the names of the global risks are abbreviated; see Appendix A for the full name and description.。