Global Risks Report 2026: As the world faces unprecedented uncertainty, the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2026, released in January, outlines the most pressing threats likely to shape 2026, the next two years (2028) and the decade ahead (2036).

According to respondents to the Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS), expectations for both the short- and long-term global outlook are pessimistic.

“GRPS respondents viewed both the short- and long-term global outlook negatively, with 50% of respondents anticipating either a turbulent or stormy outlook over the next two years, deteriorating to 57% of respondents over the next 10 years,” said the report published on January 14.

“A further 40% and 32%, respectively, view the global outlook as unsettled over the two- and 10-year time frames, with only 1% anticipating a calm outlook across each time horizon.”

The report defines a “global risk” as “the possibility of an event or condition that, if it occurs, would negatively impact a significant proportion of global GDP, population, or natural resources.”

It ranks risks by immediate severity and over the short term (two years) and the long term (10 years).

According to the report, geoeconomic confrontation has risen sharply, moving up two positions in immediate risk and eight positions in the short term, to become one of the most severe risks by 2028.

As competition among countries intensifies, the report said that state-based armed conflict ranks second among immediate threats, though it stands at fifth in the two-year outlook.

Meanwhile, it pointed out, economic risks, when taken collectively, have surged, driven by high national debt levels and volatile markets.

Economic downturns, in particular, remain in the top 10 at the start of 2026, and have climbed eight spots to rank 11th in the short-term outlook and 19th over the next decade.

Short-term concerns, especially in environmental and technological areas, are increasingly overshadowing long-term global objectives.

On the environmental front, the risks in the category are deprioritised in the two-year timeframe; however, they remain significant over a decade.

Technological threats are on the rise, with misinformation and disinformation ranked second in the short term and fourth in the long term, the report said.

It added that potential adverse outcomes from artificial intelligence have jumped from 30th to fifth in the 10-year outlook.

As global risks rapidly evolve, here are the top ten risks, ranked by severity, that are likely to shape the world immediately (2026), in the near (2 years – 2028) and distant future (10 years – 2036).