Page 92 - WEF Reoprt 2020

Failure of national
governance (e.g. failure of rule Inability to govern a nation of geopolitical importance as a result of weak
of law, corruption, political rule of law, corruption or political deadlock
deadlock)
Failure of regional or Inability of regional or global institutions to resolve issues of economic,
global governance geopolitical or environmental importance
Geopolitical Interstate conflict with economic (e.g. trade/currency wars, resource nationalization), military,
A bilateral or multilateral dispute between states that escalates into
regional consequences
cyber, societal or other conflict
Individuals or non-state groups with political or religious goals that
Large-scale terrorist attacks

State collapse or crisis successfully inflict large-scale human or material damage
(e.g. civil conflict, military coup, State collapse of geopolitical importance due to internal violence, regional
failed states) or global instability, military coup, civil conflict, failed states etc.

The deployment of nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological
Weapons of mass destruction technologies and materials, creating international crises and potential for
significant destruction

Poorly planned cities, urban sprawl and associated infrastructure that
Failure of urban planning
create social, environmental and health challenges
Inadequate, unaffordable or unreliable access to appropriate quantities and
Food crises
quality of food and nutrition on a major scale
Large-scale involuntary migration induced by conflict, disasters,
Large-scale involuntary migration
environmental or economic reasons
Societal Profound social instability Major social movements or protests (e.g. street riots, social unrest) that
disrupt political or social stability, negatively impacting populations and
economic activity
Bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi that cause uncontrolled spread of
Rapid and massive spread of infectious diseases (for instance as a result of resistance to antibiotics,
infectious diseases antivirals and other treatments) leading to widespread fatalities and
economic disruption

A significant decline in the available quality and quantity of fresh water,
Water crises
resulting in harmful effects on human health and/or economic activity

Intended or unintended adverse consequences of technological advances
Adverse consequences of such as artificial intelligence, geo-engineering and synthetic biology
technological advances
causing human, environmental and economic damage
Technological Breakdown of critical information information infrastructure (e.g. internet, satellites) and networks, causing
Cyber dependency that increases vulnerability to outage of critical
infrastructure and networks
widespread disruption
Large-scale cyberattacks or malware causing large economic damage,
Large-scale cyberattacks

Wrongful exploitation of private or official data that takes place on an
Massive incident of data fraud geopolitical tensions or widespread loss of trust in the internet
or theft unprecedented scale

The Global Risks Report 2020 87