The lead author of The Global Risks Report 2018 is Aengus Collins. 

At the World Economic Forum a debt of gratitude is owed to Professor Klaus Schwab (Founder and Executive Chairman), Børge Brende (President), Richard Samans (Head of the Centre for the Global Agenda) and Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz (Head of the System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Economic Progress), under whose guidance this report has been produced. Lee Howell (Head of Global Programming) has been an important source of insight and advice.

Katharine Shaw has played an indispensable role in the creation of this report. Thanks also go to Ciara Porawski and the other members of the Global Risks Report 2018 team: Oliver Cann, Thierry Geiger, Alem Tedeneke, Jean-François Trinh Tan and Stéphanie Verin. In addition, the following colleagues were particularly instrumental in shaping and writing elements of the report: Ushang Damachi, Emily Farnworth, Derek O’Halloran, Philip Shetler-Jones and Jahda Swanborough.

We would like to thank our Strategic Partners, Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) and Zurich Insurance Group. On the steering board of the Global Risks Report, Richard Samans of the World Economic Forum is joined by John Drzik (President, Global Risk and Digital at Marsh) and Alison Martin (Group Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Insurance Group). Particular gratitude is due also to Richard Smith-Bingham (Director of the Global Risk Center at MMC) and John Scott (Zurich Insurance Group) for their contributions throughout the planning and drafting of the report.

We are also grateful to our three Academic Advisers: the National University of Singapore, Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford and the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

The report has greatly benefited from the dedication and guidance of the members of the Global Risks Report Advisory Board: Rolf Alter (Hertie School of Governance), Sharan Burrow (International Trade Union Confederation), Winnie Byanyima (Oxfam International), Howard Kunreuther (Wharton Risk Center), Marie-Valentine Florin (International Risk Governance Council), Al Gore (Generation Investment Management), Steven Kou (National University of Singapore), Julian Laird (Oxford Martin School), Pascal Lamy (Jacques Delors Institute), Ursula von der Leyen (Federal Minister of Defence of Germany), Maleeha Lodhi (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations), Gary Marchant (Arizona State University), Robert Muggah (Igarapé Institute), Moisés Naím (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Naomi Oreskes (Harvard University), Jonathan Ostry (International Monetary Fund), Daniel Ralph (Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies), Nouriel Roubini (New York University), John Scott (Zurich Insurance Group), Shi Peijun (Beijing Normal University), Richard Smith-Bingham (Marsh & McLennan Companies) and Ngaire Woods (University of Oxford). 

We are grateful to the following individuals from our Strategic Partners and Academic Advisors.

Marsh & McLennan Companies: Paul Beswick, David Bidmead, Leslie Chacko, Simon Cooper, John A. Craig, Bruno Dotti, Alanna Gibson, Jason Groves, Rick Guzzo, Bruce Hamory, Claus Herbolzheimer, Julian Macey-Dare, Matt McCabe, Leah Pollacksmith, Maurizio Quintavalle, Stephen Szaraz, Rachel Wheeler and Alex Wittenberg.

Zurich Insurance Group: Paige Adams, David Anderson, Lori Bailey, Francis Bouchard, Valerie Butt, Laura Castellano, Rosanna Cubelli, Daniel Eherer, Antony Elliott, Karl Gray, Gero Gunkel, Jean-Pierre Krause, Stefan Kroepfl, Manuel Lewin, Marc Liew, Guy Miller, Pavel Osipyants, Gregory Renand, Juerg Schmid, Silvia Signoretti, David Swaden and Nick Wildgoose. 

National University of Singapore: Kok Kwang Phoon and Chorh Chuan Tan. 

Oxford Martin School: Steven Cowley. 

Wharton: Jeffrey Czajkowski.

We extend our appreciation to the authors of the two articles in the Risk Reassessment section of the report. Roland Kupers is an adviser on complexity, resilience and energy transition; a fellow at Oxford University; and the co-author of Complexity and the Art of Public Policy, The Essence of Scenarios and Turbulence: A Corporate Perspective on Collaborating for Resilience. Michele Wucker is the author of Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore and a 2009 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

We would also like to thank the respondents who completed the Global Risks Perception Survey. Thanks also go to the participants in our Global Risks Workshop in Geneva on 6 October 2017: Alison Bewick (Nestlé), Walter Bohmayr (Boston Consulting Group), Marie-Valentine Florin (International Risks Governance Council), Guillaume Grosso (Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance), Nneka Henry (International Trade Center), Michael Ineichen (International Service for Human Rights), Julian Laird (Oxford Martin School), Katell LeGoulven (UNICEF), Timothy Less (Nova Europa), Rupert Lewis (Government Office for Science), Nathanial Matthews (Global Resilience Partnership), Marie McAuliffe (International Organization for Migration), Tim Noonan (International Trade Union Confederation), Kok-Kwang Phoon (National University of Singapore), Janez Potocnik (International Resource Panel), Jean-Marc Rickli (Geneva Centre for Security Policy), Caroline Roberts (University of Lausanne), Johann Roduit (Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich), James Rogers (Henry Jackson Society), Eric Salobir (Secretariat of State of the Vatican), David Scharia (United Nations Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee), John Scott (Zurich Insurance Group), Carsten Schrehardt (Federal Ministry of Defence of Germany), Lutfey Siddiqi (LSE Systemic Risk Centre/NUS Risks Management Institute), Richard Smith-Bingham (Marsh &McLennan Companies), Michael Sparrow (World Climate Research Programme), Eskil Ullberg (George Mason University), Marcy Vigoda (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), Farida Vis (University of Sheffield), Lisa Walker (Ecosphere+), Carolyn Williams (Institute of Risk Management), Benjamin Zeeb (Project for Democratic Union) and Wenjian Zhang (World Meteorological Organization).

This year’s new Future Shocks series has been possible only because of the generosity of many people with their time and ideas. Special thanks are due to the following individuals and groups, whose suggestions strongly shaped a number of the shocks: A Tangled Web (Joelle Jenny); The Death of Trade (The Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment); Democracy Buckles (Daniel Drezner, Paul Scharre); Precision Extinction (Jahda Swanborough); Inequality Ingested (Kamal Sinclair, Christopher Zember, Mike Evans); War without Rules (Ian Bremmer) and Walled Off (Tim Noonan). Thanks also go to the following for their inputs: Abdelmalek Alaoui, Andrea Bandelli, Katinka Barysch, Ian Brunswick, Nicholas Davis, Rajeeb Dey, Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen, Yoichi Funabashi, Ed Gerstner, Daniel Gómez Gaviria, Marc Goodman, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Diane Hoskins, Mahmoud Jibril, Lynn Kuok, Katell Le Goulven, Mike Mazarr, Gareth Mitchell, Ryan Morhard, Joe Palca, Thomas Philbeck, Mahmood Sariolghalam, Philip Shetler-Jones, Andrew Snyder-Beattie and Justin Wood. Finally, the Future Shocks series leans heavily on the work of the participants in the Global Risks Workshop that took place in Geneva on 6 October 2017, listed above.

In addition to those mentioned above, we extend our thanks to all the following for their time and help: David Aikman, Gauhar Anwar, Arjun Appadurai, Marisol Argueta, Silja Baller, Jennifer Beckman, Paul Beecher, Micael Bermudez, Matthew Blake, Roberto Bocca, Kimberley Botwright, Dominik Breitinger, Sebastian Buckup, Marcus Burke, Denise Burnet, Ilan Chabay, Alice Charles, Bing Chomprasob, Claudio Cocorocchia, Gemma Corrigan, Roberto Crotti, Richard Danziger, Nico Daswani, Nico Daswani, Attilio di Battista, Mariette di Christina, Sean Doherty, Lisa Dreier, Michael Drexler, Mirek Dusek, John Dutton, Jonathan Eckart, Jaci Eisenberg, Malik Faraoun, Liam Foran, Lorin Fries, Arkadiusz Garbacz, Antonia Gawel, David Gleicher, Fernando Gomez, Richard Grieveson, Rigas Hadzilacos, Stefan Hall, Mike Hanley, Alice Hazelton, William Hoffmann, Daniel Hund, Carlo Jaegers, Maroun Kairouz, Elsie Kanza, Akanksha Khatri, Akanksha Khatri, Nikolai Khlystov, Marina Krommenacker, Joey Lake, Tarika Lall, Martina Larkin, Till Leopold, Helena Leurent, Mariah Levin, Silvia Magnoni, Alan Marcus, Paul McNamara, Jesse McWaters, Espen Mehlum, Viraj Mehta, Liana Melchenko, Stephan Mergenthaler, Adrian Monck, Jane Morley, Marie Sophie Müller, Robin Niblett, Robert O’Daly, Taylor Owen, Michele Petruzziello, Ortwin Renn, Lucien Rieben, Christian Rodriguez Chifelle, Richard Rothenberg, Karen Saez, Olivier Schwab, Elaine Smith, Paul Smyke, Timothy Snyder, Vesselina Stefanova Ratcheva, Jim Riordan, Masao Takahashi, Helen Thompson, Jessica Toscani, Terri Toyota, Victoria Tuomisto, Maria Elena Varas, Lisa Ventura, Harsh Vijay Singh, Regula Waltenspuel, Dominic Waughray, Bruce Weinelt, Duncan Weldon, Olivier Woeffray, Karen Wong, Justin Wood, Kira Youdina and Saadia Zahidi.

We would like to remember our colleague Jean-Luc Vez, 1957-2017, who contributed greatly to the Global Risks Report over the years and who will be sorely missed.

Thanks also go to all those involved in the design and production of this year’s report. At the World Economic Forum: David Bustamante, Ruslan Gaynutdinov, Kamal Kimaoui, Arturo Rago and Mara Sandoval. And our external collaborators: Hope Steele (editing); Moritz Stefaner (data visualization); Patrik Svensson (front cover and Future Shocks artwork); Neil Weinberg (charts and graphics) and Andrew Wright (writing and editing). 

Online report by Design Resources Ltd.