Issue Political risks as the strongest global vulnerability

Summary

The report defines a global vulnerability as a wide gap between how important a risk is perceived to be and how ready the multilateral system is to respond. By that measure the political group emerged as the largest vulnerability. Without exception, political risks were rated more important than in 2024, which the report regards as the most worrying change in its findings. Over the same period, ratings of multilateral preparedness went down for all political risks except one. Large-scale war stands out most, combining rising importance, the steepest drop in preparedness and a place among the most interconnected risks. Respondents also singled out large-scale war, mis- and disinformation and weapons of mass destruction as risks of high importance but low preparedness.