The pandemic that has been raging all around the world has put into perspective the sheer fragility of the human species. We have only been on this planet for a really short period in its overall history, and while humanity may think of itself as invulnerable, the widespread havoc caused by one of the tiniest organisms in existence tends to prove otherwise. Viruses are not actually the biggest threat that we are facing, and many of these threats could become increasingly prominent in coming years.
The World Economic Forum has just released its annual Global Risks Report, and this report surveyed a thousand experts and industry leaders to ask them what they feel like the biggest global risks actually are. One thing to note here is that only about 3.7% of people currently feel optimistic about the future, which indicates that the vast majority of people are going to assume that things are going to continue to get worse which might leave the planet uninhabitable before too long a period of time has passed.
Many of the short term risks that experts were asked about tend to center around things like societal problems. 30.4% felt that livelihood crises would become serious problems over the next two years at most, 27.5% mentioned an erosion of social cohesion, 26.4% referenced infectious diseases which the coronavirus appears to confirm, and mental health deterioration is also a big issue with 26.1% saying that it will become truly serious either this year or next year.
However, the biggest short term risk according to these experts is actually extreme weather. 31.1% of experts agreed on this, making it the one risk that has the highest consensus among these experts. If we were to look at mid to long term risks, these are dominated by environmental problems. 35.7% of experts felt that climate action failure will become a much more serious problem than it is right now in the next two to five years, and that number goes up to 42.1% in the next five to ten years. It’s clear that climate change is something that will become an increasingly significant issue as the years go by.
H/T: VC.
Read next: Old People Are Becoming More Tech Savvy, Pew Research Centre Reveals
The World Economic Forum has just released its annual Global Risks Report, and this report surveyed a thousand experts and industry leaders to ask them what they feel like the biggest global risks actually are. One thing to note here is that only about 3.7% of people currently feel optimistic about the future, which indicates that the vast majority of people are going to assume that things are going to continue to get worse which might leave the planet uninhabitable before too long a period of time has passed.
Many of the short term risks that experts were asked about tend to center around things like societal problems. 30.4% felt that livelihood crises would become serious problems over the next two years at most, 27.5% mentioned an erosion of social cohesion, 26.4% referenced infectious diseases which the coronavirus appears to confirm, and mental health deterioration is also a big issue with 26.1% saying that it will become truly serious either this year or next year.
However, the biggest short term risk according to these experts is actually extreme weather. 31.1% of experts agreed on this, making it the one risk that has the highest consensus among these experts. If we were to look at mid to long term risks, these are dominated by environmental problems. 35.7% of experts felt that climate action failure will become a much more serious problem than it is right now in the next two to five years, and that number goes up to 42.1% in the next five to ten years. It’s clear that climate change is something that will become an increasingly significant issue as the years go by.
H/T: VC.
Read next: Old People Are Becoming More Tech Savvy, Pew Research Centre Reveals