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Visualizing the Top 10 Global Risks (2020-2025)
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Key Takeaways
- Climate change ranks as the top global risk in 2025, a position it has held for the past four years.
- Risks were based on a survey of 3,595 risk management experts in 57 countries conducted by AXA, a Paris-based multinational insurance and asset management firm.
From rising conflicts to geopolitical fragmentation, the global risk landscape looks very different than it did five years ago.
Beyond these factors, advancements in AI are presenting both new opportunities and risks, covering everything from national security to the labor market. Meanwhile, extreme weather events continue to displace people and diminish crop yields across global regions.
This graphic shows the evolution of the top 10 global risks since 2020, based on the AXA 2025 Global Risks Report.
The Evolution of the Top 10 Global Risks Since 2020
Here are the top risks according to risk management experts worldwide:
| Global Rank | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pandemics/ Infectious Diseases | Climate Change | Climate Change | Climate Change | Climate Change | Climate Change |
| 2 | Climate Change | Cybersecurity | Geopolitical Instability | Cybersecurity | Geopolitical Instability | Geopolitical Instability |
| 3 | Cybersecurity | Pandemics/ Infectious Diseases | Cybersecurity | Geopolitical Instability | Cybersecurity | Cybersecurity |
| 4 | Geopolitical Instability | Geopolitical Instability | Energy Risks | AI and Big Data | AI and Big Data | AI and Big Data |
| 5 | Social Tensions | Social Tensions | Pandemics/ Infectious Diseases | Energy Risks | Social Tensions | Social Tensions |
| 6 | New Threats/ Terrorism | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity | Social Tensions | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity |
| 7 | Macroeconomics | New Threats/ Terrorism | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity | Financial Stability | Energy Risks | Macroeconomics |
| 8 | Natural Resources/ Biodiversity | Financial Stability | Financial Stability | Social Tensions | New Threats/ Terrorism | Energy Risks |
| 9 | Financial Stability | Macroeconomics | Macroeconomics | Pandemics/ Infectious Diseases | Pandemics/ Infectious Diseases | Financial Stability |
| 10 | Pollution | AI and Big Data | Monetary and Fiscal Policies | Macroeconomics | Financial Stability | Demographics |
With 2024 being the hottest year ever recorded, surpassing—2023—climate change ranks as the top risk since 2021.
As the scale and intensity of extreme weather events accelerates, it poses the risk of damaging infrastructure and property, which stood as the primary concern among experts. At the same time, sea-level rise, droughts, and floods have led millions to internally migrate worldwide.
Geopolitical instability ranks next, as global conflict deaths reached their highest level in 25 years in 2024. In Europe, it ranked as the top risk overall, given the proximity to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Even more grim is that more than eight in 10 experts say there is a significant risk of a global war.
As we can see, demographics entered the list in 2025, its first time ever. Going further, experts in Italy, Japan, and Germany ranked it as their top risk as an aging population places increasing strain on public finances.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on financing risk by country in 2025.