World Fears Major War More Than Any Other Global Risk, UN Survey Finds

For the first time in recent memory, the prospect of a large-scale international conflict is no longer a distant hypothetical, but the immediate and overriding fear of experts worldwide. According to the newly released UN Global Risk Report published today, major war has skyrocketed to the top of humanity's threat list, supplanting climate change and pandemics. The sobering findings underscore a world grappling with escalating geopolitical tension, weakening multilateral institutions, and a pervasive sense of unpreparedness.

The Steepest Rise in Global Anxiety

Just two years ago, the international community was largely focused on environmental degradation, the fallout from misinformation, and the lingering scars of global health crises. However, the survey data from over 1,300 leaders spanning government, civil society, the private sector, and academia reveals a dramatic recalibration of those priorities. The UN Global Risk Report indicates that the threat of large-scale war climbed an unprecedented 16 places in the risk rankings compared to 2024, representing the steepest rise of any threat tracked by the United Nations.

The numbers are as stark as they are alarming. More than a third of the survey’s respondents—36 percent—believe that the effects of a major war could touch a significant share of humanity within the next year. Looking slightly further ahead, a staggering 76 percent expect such a conflict to erupt within the next seven years. This drumbeat of war is now echoing across all seven regions covered by the survey, ranking in the top ten threats globally and piercing the top five in six of those regions.

Institutions Seen as Ill-Equipped

Perhaps the most concerning takeaway from the comprehensive UN survey is the sheer lack of global readiness. Large-scale war was the singular risk to land in the top six across all four of the survey's primary tracking measures: importance, imminence, interconnectedness, and institutional unpreparedness. As geopolitical fault lines deepen, there is a growing consensus that the multinational bodies designed to preserve peace are losing their efficacy.

In his foreword to the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres offered a blunt assessment of the landscape. He noted that political risks have aggressively moved to center stage, rendering the prospect of major conflict both more important and more immediate than in previous assessments. Crucially, Guterres highlighted that the very institutions expected to respond to these crises are increasingly viewed by global experts as less capable of acting decisively.

Interconnected Threats and Vulnerabilities

The UN's findings parallel other major systemic risk evaluations released earlier this year, which also warned that geoeconomic confrontation has become a towering threat. The UN report emphasizes that these risks do not exist in a vacuum. Instead, geopolitical instability acts as a dangerous multiplier, threatening to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities linked to economic fragmentation, energy systems, and food security.

Furthermore, the survey highlights that while the international community remains relatively adept at identifying risks, it struggles to manage the cascading effects of interconnected crises. For instance, the weaponization of frontier technologies, alongside rampant mis- and disinformation, continues to erode the public trust required to build a unified global response to these mounting tensions.

Editorial Takeaway

Today’s UN Global Risk Report is less of a forecast and more of a blaring siren for the international community. The rapid ascension of major war to the apex of global fears is a profound indictment of current diplomatic frameworks and a reflection of a world dangerously adrift. If 76 percent of global experts believe a massive conflict is likely within seven years, incremental policy adjustments are no longer sufficient. World leaders must move beyond rhetorical commitments to peace and urgently rebuild the binding multilateral alliances necessary to pull humanity back from the brink, before this collective fear becomes an irreversible reality.