Overview of methodology

The Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) has underpinned the Global Risks Report for two decades and is the World Economic Forum’s premier source of original global risks data. This year’s GRPS has brought together insights on the evolving global risks landscape from over 1,300 experts across academia, business, government, international organizations and civil society. Responses for the GRPS 2025-2026 were collected between 12 August and 22 September 2025.

“Global risk” is defined as the possibility of the occurrence of an event or condition that, if it occurs, would negatively impact a significant proportion of global GDP, population or natural resources. Relevant definitions for each of the 33 global risks are included in Appendix A: Definitions and Global Risks List.

The GRPS 2025–2026 included the following components:

Risk landscape invited respondents to assess the likely impact (severity) of global risks over a one-, two- and 10-year horizon to illustrate the potential development of individual global risks over time and identify areas of key concern.
Consequences asked respondents to consider the range of potential impacts of a risk arising, to highlight relationships between global risks and the potential for compounding crises.
Risk governance invited respondents to reflect on which approaches have the most potential for driving action on global risk reduction and preparedness.
Outlook asked respondents to predict the evolution of key aspects underpinning the global risks landscape.

Refer to Appendix B: Global Risks Perception Survey 2025–2026 for more detail on the methodology.

To complement GRPS data on global risks, the report also draws on the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey (EOS) to identify risks that pose the most severe threat to each country over the next two years, as identified by over 11,000 business leaders in 116 economies. When considered in context with the GRPS, this data provides insight into local concerns and priorities and points to potential “hot spots” and regional manifestations of global risks. Refer to Appendix C: Executive Opinion Survey: National Risk Perceptions for more details.

Finally, the report integrates the views of leading experts to generate foresight and to support analysis of the survey data. Contributions were collected from 161 colleagues across the World Economic Forum’s Centres of expertise and community meetings, drawing on private interviews and thematic workshops with experts from across academia, business, government, international organizations and civil society. These discussions were conducted from May to November 2025. Experts included the Global Risks Report Advisory Board and the Chief Risk Officers Community. Refer to Acknowledgements for more detail.