Trend Pandemic and biorisk concern receding

Summary

Six years after Covid-19, respondents in the 2026 survey showed clearly less worry over new pandemics and biorisks than two years earlier. Both risks fell eight places in the importance ranking and were rated lower on likelihood and severity. In 2024 they were still considered pressing in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa, but this time neither made the top ten in any of the seven regions. On timing, most respondents also placed the two risks among long-term concerns. Other societal risks such as mass movement of people and proliferation of non-state actors were less prominent too, and respondents judged the multilateral system better prepared for these risks than in 2024.