The 28 Biggest Global Risks, According To The UN

As the world confronts overlapping crises, from accelerating climate change to the unchecked spread of misinformation, global risks are increasingly interconnected, compounding one another in ways that could overwhelm current institutions and systems.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu,shows the top 28 most important global risk as outlined in the United Nations Global Risk Report 2024.

Risk importance combines the likelihood and severity of a risk, with top risks seen as most likely to occur with severe impacts if or when they manifest.

Rankings are based on a survey of 1,100 stakeholders across 136 countries which includes representatives of government, industry, civil society, and academia.

What is the Most Important Risk the World is Facing?

Below, we show the top 28 most important global risks and their importance scores, according to the United Nations.

Rank
Risk
Importance Score
Category
1
Climate Change Inaction
37.2
Environmental
2
Large-Scale Pollution
36.0
Environmental
3
Mis- and Disinformation
35.4
Political
4
Natural Hazard Risks
35.0
Environmental
5
Rise in Inequalities
34.7
Societal
6
Biodiversity Decline
34.6
Environmental
7
Geopolitical Tensions
34.5
Political
8
Natural Resource Shortages
34.3
Environmental
9
Mass Movement of People
33.2
Societal
10
Large-Scale War
32.6
Political
11
Biorisks
32.3
Societal
12
New Pandemic
32.1
Societal
13
Rule of Law Collapse
32.0
Political
14
Cybersecurity Breakdown
31.7
Technological
15
Global Financial Crisis
31.6
Economic
16
Weapons of Mass Destruction
31.1
Political
17
AI and Frontier Tech
31.0
Technological
18
Proliferation of Non-State Actors
30.8
Societal
19
Tech-Driven Power Concentration
30.8
Technological
20
Social Cohesion Collapse
30.4
Societal
21
Widespread Debt Crisis
30.2
Economic
22
Economic Fragmentation
29.1
Economic
23
State Sovereignty Erosion
28.5
Political
24
Global Economic Stagnation
27.9
Economic
25
Supply Chain Collapse
27.8
Economic
26
Geoengineering Disasters
27.5
Technological
27
Multilateral Institution Collapse
26.3
Political
28
Space-Based Event
23.4
Environmental

Across all regions, environmental risks emerged as the highest priority, with climate change inaction and large-scale pollution both seen as highly likely and highly severe.

Climate change inaction was the most important risk overall, ranking as the most pressing issue in three of the seven regions.

In total, 84% of respondents said mis- and disinformation is already occurring, making it the most immediate risk today, according to the UN.

Mis- and disinformation also ranked as the top risk in the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report.

While environmental concerns were top of mind for all regions, other perceptions varied by region. For example, in North Africa and Asia, concerns about cybersecurity breakdowns and artificial intelligence (AI) were among the top 10 risks, unlike in other regions.

Cybersecurity breakdowns were among the least prepared-for risks, with a preparedness score of just 3.9 out of 7. The only risk the world is less prepared for is a potential space-based event.

To learn more about risks the world is facing in the near and long term, check out this graphic that visualizes the top global risks, as ranked by the World Economic Forum.