Africa
Most African countries demonstrated greater than expected resilience during the global economic crisis and the continent is currently set to extend its pre-crisis performance of 5-6% average annual GDP growth,…
The Network of Global Agenda Councils has been closely monitoring the most important issues on the global, regional and industry agendas. Each council, consisting of the world’s foremost thought leaders has developed a brief report outlining the key findings from their deliberations over the last 12 months.
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Most African countries demonstrated greater than expected resilience during the global economic crisis and the continent is currently set to extend its pre-crisis performance of 5-6% average annual GDP growth,…
Over the past several decades, the world has experienced historically unprecedented increases in the size and share of its elderly population. In 1950, for example, the world’s population was some…
Corruption, the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, is the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development around the world. It distorts markets, stifles economic growth and sustainable…
The past few years were extraordinary for the world economy and the global automotive industry. National governments took dramatic, unprecedented steps to intervene in the automotive industry and markets. In…
Over the last few decades, the travel and tourism sector has experienced continued growth and diversification, accounting for 9.1% of global GDP and 4.8% of world exports. Most significantly, it…
While the majority of commentators would agree that the banking industry and capital markets are more robust than at the height of the financial crisis three years ago, certain fault…
Quantifying prosperity and societal progress in a rigorous way is an essential step towards helping governments and civil society prioritize actions and policies. Although economic growth and GDP-based measures are…
The Haitian and Chilean earthquakes in 2010, the BP oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the revolts in Africa and the Middle East in 2011, and the Japanese…
Nearly two-thirds of all deaths in the world are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), primarily cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. Four-fifths of all deaths from NCDs occur…
Green Growth – A Breakthrough Narrative The world’s dominant economic growth models rely heavily on industrial processes and modes of consumption that result in high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Countries worldwide have achieved vastly different prosperity levels. Some have grown rapidly, providing rising living standards for their citizens over time, others have achieved economic success more slowly, and yet…
Over the past generation, destructive conflict has caused the loss of millions of lives and trillions of dollars. While much has been done to address ongoing violence, much less has…
In the 2010 Global Agenda Council term, the Consumer Industry Agenda Council produced an “Industry Issue Matrix” that focuses on two overarching industry trends (changing dynamics of markets and consumers)…
This year the Global Agenda Council on Design has brought design and design thinking into a broader agenda by engaging in dialogues with various Councils by helping to identify interrelationships…
Ecosystems and biodiversity make up the very fabric of life. Yet, a fast developing and ever more crowded world are putting increasing strain on the life support systems that serve…
The looming social and political crisis that could result from the combination of a protracted economic recession, high youth unemployment, and social inequality and exclusion all relate to the underperformance…
There are dozens of globally competitive entities rapidly making their collective mark felt on the world stage. These entities mostly originate from the so-called emerging markets. The BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India,…
Emerging technologies are critical to supporting responses to global challenges ranging from disease prevention to access to clean water. As globalization, the Internet and an increasing emphasis on science and…
Energy security is the stable delivery of energy at affordable economic, social and environmental costs. In its nature it can be compared to air or water—we often take it for…
Stretching from the western coastline of the European Union to the far east of the Russian Federation, the Europe & Central Asia (ECA) region covers 14 million square kilometres and…
Fiscal crises pose significant risks to economic stability at both the regional and global levels. In a number of countries, high debt levels, continued high deficits and large contingent liabilities…
The global food and economic crises have driven tens of millions of additional people into food insecurity, now leaving more than 1 billion people hungry. Shortfalls and volatility in global…
The shift of wealth and power from the West to the East and South, accelerated by the global financial crisis, has increased the weight of emerging and regional powers in…
Governments around the world are faced with new demands, new expectations and a fast-growing array of new technologies and tools. The challenges faced by governments increasingly span national borders and…
The unprecedented flow of ideas, information, people, money, goods and services across international borders now faces formidable challenges from a landmark transition in the current international balance of political and…
Spending on healthcare is on an unsustainable course. In advanced economies, between 1970 and 2007 total spending leapt from an average of 6% of GDP to nearly 12%, while emerging…
We live in a world of diverse and conflicting values in which human rights and respect for human dignity have provided a platform for convergence. One important instance of such…
The humanitarian response to natural disasters has improved around the world. At the same time, there has been a concerted attempt to improve anticipation of disasters, preparedness for them, and…
Illicit trade involves money, goods or value gained from illegal and generally unethical activity. It encompasses a wide variety of illegal trading activities, including human trafficking, environmental crime, illegal trade…
As the largest free market democracy and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India is a model for many emerging economies. However, while economic liberalization since 1991…
An informed society is key to meeting many of the world’s challenges and to preparing for a positive approach to managing risk. The fast-moving complexity of contemporary global issues means…
Innovation is in the process of becoming a field, although it is not yet reducible to a universally accepted set of concepts and best practices. Currently innovation is a term…
Over the last year, the Global Agenda Council on Institutional Governance Systems discussed the opportunities, challenges and risks the system of global cooperation currently faces. The Council developed a set…
The insurance and asset management industry needs to educate other stakeholders about the value it creates and what it can realistically achieve. Part is explaining why insurance is not banking,…
Increasing globalization introduces complexities in international economic relations and sharpens competition among countries. The global intellectual property (IP) system is a tool for regulating and facilitating trade in information and…
Deficiencies in the international legal system make it “not fit for purpose” to address many global problems and risks. The deficiencies include diminishing support for a global rules-based system under…
A number of important geopolitical and financial developments have taken place since the beginning of 2011. Unrest in the Middle East led to a spike in oil prices, while a…
Our increasing reliance on the Internet, and on the cloud services that run on it, continues to expose new risks and vulnerabilities. 2010-11 has proven to be a watershed year,…
Japan can make significant contributions to the world and take a more central role in managing global issues by capitalizing on recent challenges and turning them into opportunities, and sharing…
The Republic of Korea has to solve a number of lingering old problems and rapidly increasing new challenges to reduce risk with the country and the region. These challenges include…
Latin America emerged relatively unscathed from the recent global economic downturn, with a robust pace of recovery during 2010-2011 and a positive outlook for the region as a whole. A…
The World Economic Forum’s Logistics & Supply Chain Industry Agenda Council is a new body consisting of strategic thinkers from academia and business. The Council has distilled recommendations from insights…
The media, entertainment & information industry has long had a role in informing, educating and entertaining consumers and citizens. Yet the latest technology, the proliferation of sources and distribution channels…
The events of early 2011 in the Arab world significantly changed the overall economic agenda for countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In particular, there were…
International migration contributes to global economic growth and development. Though many policy debates on migration focus on the challenges associated with the movement of people, when migration is legal, orderly…
America’s domestic political system is perceived as not rising to the challenges it faces. Fighting wars in two countries, isolationist tendencies, increasing debt, an economic slowdown and political polarization combine to…
Ocean governance is likely to be one of the most important issues of the coming decades. Climate change, food security, environmental sustainability, industrial development and geopolitics are all interrelated with…
The view of organized crime in the popular imagination—of Sicilian mafia groups confined to certain cities and a handful of criminal markets—is seriously out of date. The criminal enterprises of today…
The world’s population today is almost 7 billion. Although growth has slowed, United Nations scenarios predict that the global population will grow to between 8.0 and 10.5 billion people by…
Recognizing that economic growth represents the best answer to extreme poverty, which still afflicts 25% of humanity, developing countries and the development community have been increasingly focusing on putting in…
Public and institutional investors, e.g., sovereign funds, public pension funds, foundations and endowments, are a central yet little understood part of the global financial system. Aggregating assets on behalf of…
Real estate has evolved from just meeting the rudimental needs of sheltering people to being fundamental in supporting and strengthening the fabric of an environmentally, economically, socially and financially sustainable…
Energy is the building block of a functioning society and economy. Today, disruptive technological advances have made sustainable energy increasingly reliable. However, the current global energy mix does not favour…
The environment in which today’s businesses operate has undergone a fundamental transformation in the last two decades. Increasingly, leaders in the private sector have realized that old conceptions of business’…
Despite high unemployment, the global economy has entered an era of talent scarcity that, if left unaddressed, will hinder economic growth worldwide. Talent shortages increase because of demographic changes (mostly…
The time for Asia has finally arrived. The aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008 saw a re-balancing of global economic power from “tired” traditional Western economies to robust…
Our societies have become critically dependent on the use of space-based services, such as telecommunications, navigation and positioning, or remote sensing. All sectors of the economy, from precision farming to…
The role of systemic financial risk in the financial crisis in 2007-09 has been the centre of the international agenda under the G20 and Financial Stability Board and the subject…
A key concern within the telecom sector is the exponentially increasing demand in data traffic and the inability to arrive at sustainable business models that will support this growth. Additionally,…
Terrorism continues to disrupt peace and security, distorts domestic and international economies and undermines democratically elected governments. Effective responses require intense and innovative international cooperation. All of our paradigms are…
Preferential Trade Arrangements and the World Trading System Until the early 1990s, preferential trade arrangements (PTAs) were rare, and most of them had little economic value because of their limited…
Cities represent 2% of global land surface, 50% of global population and 70-80% of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The world’s 100 largest cities produce more than 30% of…
During the closing plenary session at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in June 2011, Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva, called for a wide-ranging philosophical debate…
Achieving Water Security in the Context of Global Economic Growth Water is a troubled natural resource. Its major consumers—agriculture, energy, industry and municipalities—have used it inefficiently. Large parts of the…
The signing of a US-Russian New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and Washington’s Nuclear Security Summit in the spring of 2010 were significant milestones for the control of weapons…
Closing gender gaps is important for both equity and efficiency reasons. Tapping into the half of the human capital that is currently underutilized is not only good practice but also…