UN Global risk report 2026

This report presents the 2026 United Nations Global Risk Survey, drawing on responses from more than 1,300 stakeholders across government, business, civil society, and the UN system, spanning all world regions. Respondents assessed 28 global risks across five groups — political, technological, economic, environmental, and societal — rating how likely each risk is, how severe, how soon it might materialize, how ready multilateral institutions are to handle it, and what helps or blocks an effective response. The results are compared with the first such survey conducted in 2024, and the 2026 survey was conducted from 19 February 2026 to 24 April 2026.

Within the environmental and disaster risk scope, climate change inaction remains the most important global risk despite shifts in perceptions elsewhere, and there remains high vulnerability to natural hazard risks, partly because the capacity to reduce them is still seen as weak. Natural resource shortages and natural hazard risks are perceived as among the most important risks, and natural hazard risks rank 15th out of 28 for multilateral preparedness. The report notes that political will and financial resources often follow perceived priorities, and stresses that a risk should not be considered resolved simply because another risk has risen above it in the view of respondents. Respondents maintain that joint, multi-government action remains by far the most effective means of prevention across all risk categories.