
Each year the World Economic Forum asks business leaders and other experts which major threats they believe countries are most likely to face in the coming decade. In the latest report, the top three global risks concern the environment and climate change—with destructive weather leading the pack for the third year in a row. For Americans, it seems, that threat is already here. Last year there were 14 weather disasters in the U.S. with losses topping $1 billion each—from Hurricanes Florence and Michael to the devastating California wildfires. That’s more than twice the annual average from 1980 to 2018.
A version of this article appears in the March 2019 issue of Fortune magazine with the headline, “What Scares the World.”
CHART SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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