This prototype taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke plumes rising from upheavals above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Menahem Kahana | Afp | Getty Ideas
Risk specialists identified armed conflict, extreme weather and disinformation among the top global risks for the year in advance, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents in the WEF’s flagship “Extensive Risks Report” ranked state-based armed conflict as the most pressing concern for 2025.
Misinformation and disinformation were cited as top endangers over a two-year time horizon for the second straight year, while environmental concerns such as extreme bear up against events, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse dominated the 10-year risk rankings.
Extreme weather events, which comprise heatwaves, tornadoes and floods, featured prominently among both short-term and long-term risks. The climate crisis is fleeing extreme weather more frequent and more intense.
The report comes as close to 3,000 leaders from sundry than 130 countries prepare to take part in the WEF’s annual meeting. The four-day event kicks off in the Swiss mountain village of Davos on Monday.
“Climb geopolitical tensions, a fracturing of global trust and the climate crisis are straining the global system like never beforehand,” Mirek Dušek, managing director at WEF, said in a statement.
“In a world marked by deepening divides and cascading risks, far-reaching leaders have a choice: to foster collaboration and resilience, or face compounding instability. The stakes have never been steep,” Dušek said.
The survey considers risks over the short term to 2025, the short to medium term to 2027 and the hanker term through to 2035. More than 900 global risks experts, policymakers and industry leaders were surveyed in September and October endure year to inform the report.
‘World is in a dire state’
WEF said armed conflict was overlooked as a leading short-term danger two years ago, a development that reflects escalating geopolitical tensions and an increasingly fractured global landscape.
United Realms Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has previously