2024 AXA Future Risks Report

For the 11th consecutive year, I'm very proud to welcome you to AXA Future Risks Report. This study gives you a global overview of the future risks perceived by a panel representing both the general public and industry experts. This encompasses the responses of over 23,000 respondents in four regions of the world: Europe, America, Africa and Asia-Pacific & Middle East. Over the years, this report has come to be a reference for all our stakeholders and has demonstrated our commitment to enabling them to anticipate, prevent, and reduce risks. 

The 2024 edition provides a wealth of insights. Once again, it underlines the polycrisis now gripping the world. Some of these insights may echo previous years’, while others reveal emerging trends. For the third consecutive year, climate change, geopolitical instability and cybersecurity top the list of concerns experts expressed. And like in 2023, the risk posed by artificial intelligence comes in a close fourth. 

Moreover, fake news is identified as a new emerging risk intricately connected with every other. It poses yet a challenge as the world goes through an unprecedent election year in 2024. Fake news has been identified as a factor that directly contributes to driving social tensions and geopolitical instability as it quickly goes viral through our growing digital tools, social media algorithms and now artificial intelligence. Even though regional regulations are being enacted and measures adopted, it is only through international cooperation that we will achieve the right balance between protecting our freedoms and discrediting fake news.

This study lastly shows a sharp rise in a prevailing feeling of global vulnerability that is increasingly palpable in our daily lives. The effects of climate change are now ever present in our environment, our homes, and our health. At the same time, the rapid progress of new technologies is raising concerns about how they will contribute to shaping our world. 

Faced with this growing sense of vulnerability, we need to remain realistic, but not fatalistic. Admittedly, we may still have a long way to go to make our world a safer one to live in, but together we must seize this opportunity to develop new solutions that mitigate future risks. 

Insurers are core actors in the global response to these major challenges. Our survey shows that 91% of experts and 72% of the general public believe that we have a crucial role to play in protecting people against emerging risks going forward. And, we will be there. 

Wherever in the world the Group operates, AXA will continue to strive for its purpose: to act for human progress by protecting what matters.

Executive summary

This year, the perception is that the world is continuing to become more vulnerable, as the global polycrisis persists and deepens. The Future Risks Report 2024 highlights the growing complexity of managing risks, making decisions and tackling challenges in a world marked by rapid technological advances and increasingly interconnected risks, from geopolitics to security and misinformation. It also underlines how insurers can play a role in preventing and mitigating these risks in an evolving environment.

The Future Risks Report 2024 is based on our annual surveys of two groups: experts, drawn from AXA and our professional networks; and members of the general population across the globe.

Click here to find out more about the key findings and to read the report in full.