Issue Perception-driven attention can starve receding risks of resources

Summary

The report stresses that its rankings measure respondents' perceptions rather than actual conditions, so results can change even when the underlying situation does not. The distinction matters because political will and money tend to follow the priorities people perceive. If media or political attention shifts resources, risks that slide down the rankings can lose the funding and effort devoted to them whether or not the danger has actually eased. The report warns that a risk should not be treated as solved merely because others have climbed above it. It also acknowledges that pressing events during the survey period, from 19 February to 24 April 2026, may be partly reflected in the answers. Repeating the same questions every two years is meant to catch such shifts early, while there is still room to change course.