The Threat List

Status:196 entries catalogued

The Long List

The Long List: every problem we can name, in one list.

The ranked index covers the hundred problems we can measure properly. This is the wider field — one line each, no claim of completeness. Entries that also appear in the ranked index carry their full severity score and their fixed overall rank; a figure marked “est” is an editor estimate rather than a full five-factor score, and a dash means it hasn’t been scored yet — open it and one is researched on the spot.

196 shown
  1. #1Climate Change90.8Global warming: the forcing function behind much of this list.Global
  2. #2Russia-Ukraine War87.6Europe's largest interstate war since 1945, now in its fourth year.Europe
  3. #4Air Pollution86.4Seven million deaths a year from the air itself.Global
  4. #3Global Hunger86.4Seven hundred million people undernourished.Global
  5. #4Mining and Tailings Pollution86.4Dam failures and mercury contamination downstream.Global
  6. #5Gaza War80.3Mass civilian casualties and near-total displacement in a sealed territory.Middle East
  7. #6Sudan Civil War78.3The world's largest displacement crisis, largely unreported.Africa
  8. #7Dirty Cooking Fuel76.7Household smoke killing millions, mostly women and children.Global
  9. #8Antimicrobial Resistance76.3The slow end of reliable antibiotics.Global
  10. #9Eastern DRC Conflict74.3Decades of armed group violence over minerals and territory.Africa
  11. #10Water and Sanitation Access73.7Two billion people without safely managed water.Global
  12. #11Road Traffic Deaths73.2More than a million deaths a year, mostly avoidable.Global
  13. #12Lead Poisoning71.9Cognitive damage to hundreds of millions of children.Global
  14. #13Mental Illness and Suicide71.9A treatment gap covering most of the world.Global
  15. #14Yemen Crisis71.4A collapsed state with famine conditions and blockade.Middle East
  16. #15Cardiovascular Disease71.1The single largest cause of death worldwide.Global
  17. #16Syria Post-War Crisis70.9Fourteen years of war left a shattered state, mass displacement and a stalled recovery.Middle East
  18. #17Global Natural Disaster Losses in 202570.6Natural disasters caused about $224 billion in global damage during 2025, with less than half reportedly covered by insurance.Global
  19. #18Small Arms Proliferation70.4A billion firearms circulating with little tracing.Global
  20. #19Cancer68.2Ten million deaths a year and rising with ageing.Global
  21. #20Diabetes67.7Half a billion people, most undiagnosed or untreated.Global
  22. #20Diabetes and Obesity67.7A metabolic epidemic reshaping health systems in every income bracket.Global
  23. #21Lead Exposure67.7A neurotoxin still circulating in paint, cookware, batteries and spices, costing children measurable IQ.Global
  24. #20Obesity and Metabolic Disease67.7A food system optimised against human health.Global
  25. #22Invasive Species66.9Ecosystem disruption costing hundreds of billions.Global
  26. #23Tobacco66.8Eight million deaths a year from a legal product.Global
  27. #23Tobacco Use66.8The largest preventable cause of death on earth.Global
  28. #24Extreme Wildfires66.7Fire seasons are lengthening and burning places that historically did not burn.Global
  29. #24Wildfire Intensification66.7Fire seasons extending past the capacity to fight them.Global
  30. #25Forced Displacement66.2More than a hundred million people displaced.Global
  31. #26Child Stunting and Wasting66.1Permanent developmental damage from early hunger.Global
  32. #27Intensifying Cyclones64.6Storms outpacing the infrastructure built for them.Global
  33. #28Healthcare-Associated Infection62.4Hospital-acquired infection killing millions annually.Global
  34. #29Transboundary Water Disputes61.7Shared rivers under dam-building and drought stress.Global
  35. #30Deforestation61.4Primary forest cleared faster than it regrows.Global
  36. #31Ethiopia Internal Conflicts60.7Fighting in Amhara and Oromia continues after the Tigray war, with severe humanitarian consequences.East Africa
  37. #31Ethiopia Regional Conflicts60.7Amhara and Oromia violence after the Tigray war.Africa
  38. #33Household Air Pollution60.3Cooking on solid fuel kills millions, almost entirely women and children.Global
  39. #32Myanmar Civil War60.3Post-coup fighting across most of the country.Asia
  40. #34Tsunami Risk59.5Warning systems missing across several exposed coasts.Global
  41. #35Soil Degradation58.6A third of farmland degraded and still eroding.Global
  42. #36Extreme Poverty58.5Seven hundred million below the poverty line, progress stalled.Global
  43. #37Gender-Based Violence57.8One in three women, almost nowhere prosecuted properly.Global
  44. #38Opioid and Synthetic Drug Crisis56.8Fentanyl analogues outpacing every intervention.Americas
  45. #39Nigeria Insecurity and Banditry56.5Insurgency in the northeast and armed banditry in the northwest have displaced millions.West Africa
  46. #40Tuberculosis55.2The deadliest infectious disease, and curable.Global
  47. #41Malaria54.5Hundreds of thousands of child deaths a year.Africa
  48. #42Chronic Respiratory Disease54.1COPD and asthma driven by air pollution and smoking.Global
  49. #43Colombia Armed Group Violence53.9Post-peace-deal fragmentation has left armed groups controlling large rural areas.South America
  50. #44Religious Persecution53.7Mass detention and restriction of minority faiths.Global
  51. #45Human Trafficking53.3Criminal networks moving people across every region.Global
  52. #45Modern Slavery53.3Fifty million people in forced labour or forced marriage.Global
  53. #46Alcohol Harm52.1Three million deaths a year, largely unregulated.Global
  54. #47Mexico Cartel Violence49.9Homicide rates comparable to active war zones.Americas
  55. #48HIV/AIDS49.5Still killing where treatment access is thinnest.Global
  56. #49Overfishing49.3Stocks fished beyond recovery across most of the ocean.Global
  57. #50Learning Poverty49.0Most children in poor countries cannot read by ten.Global
  58. #52Housing and Homelessness48.7A billion people in inadequate housing.Global
  59. #51Venezuela Migration and Economic Crisis48.7The largest displacement crisis in the Western Hemisphere.South America
  60. #53Oil Spills and Gas Flaring48.2Chronic contamination in producing regions.Global
  61. #54Haiti Gang Control46.9Armed groups control most of the capital.Americas
  62. #55Somalia Drought and Child Malnutrition Crisis46.1Somalia's drought emergency is driving a sharp rise in severe child malnutrition, with admissions reportedly nearly tripling in six months.Somalia
  63. #56Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance45.4Contamination that keeps killing decades after wars end.Global
  64. #57Iran War44.5An escalating war involving Iran has reportedly killed at least 1,850 people, affected a population of nearly 10 million and caused the first US combat deaths.Iran and Middle East
  65. #58Viral Hepatitis44.4A curable and preventable infection that still kills more people than malaria.Global
  66. #59Trafficked Scam Compounds43.1Forced labour running global online fraud.Asia
  67. #60Drowning42.9A quarter of a million deaths a year, largely children.Global
  68. #61Attacks on Health Facilities40.6Hospitals struck in conflicts on every continent.Global
  69. #62Permafrost Thaw40.5Carbon and methane release that cannot be reversed.Global
  70. #63Tax Avoidance39.2Hundreds of billions lost to profit shifting annually.Global
  71. #64Nuclear Weapons Risk38.8Arms control collapsing while arsenals modernise.Global
  72. #65Neglected Tropical Diseases38.4A billion people, almost no commercial research incentive.Global
  73. #66Child Marriage38.0Twelve million girls married before eighteen each year.Global
  74. #67Long Covid36.6Chronic disability at population scale, poorly counted.Global
  75. #68Private Military Groups35.8Deniable force multiplying conflicts in fragile states.Global
  76. #69Kashmir Dispute34.9Militarised standoff between two nuclear states.Asia
  77. #70Cabo Delgado Insurgency33.7An Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique sitting on top of a major gas project.Southern Africa
  78. #71Central African Republic Conflict33.0A long-running armed conflict that has displaced a fifth of the population.Central Africa
  79. #72Migrant Route Deaths32.2Thousands drowned or lost in deserts each year.Global
  80. #73Attacks on Aid Workers31.9Record numbers of humanitarian staff killed.Global
  81. #74Female Genital Mutilation31.6More than two hundred million women affected.Global
  82. #75Internet Shutdowns30.9Connectivity cut during elections and protests.Global
  83. #76Avian Influenza H5N130.6Mammal-to-mammal spread raising pandemic risk.Global
  84. #77Western Colombia Earthquake30.0A magnitude 7.4 earthquake in western Colombia reportedly killed at least 111 people, injured thousands and damaged more than 1,500 homes.Western Colombia
  85. #78Karamoja Drought and Hunger Crisis29.5Uganda began emergency food distributions after drought and crop failures caused hunger affecting 1.5 million people and reportedly killed 19.Karamoja, Uganda
  86. #79Synthetic Media29.1Evidence itself becoming cheap to fabricate.Global
  87. #80Cholera Outbreaks28.1A treatable disease surging on broken water systems.Global
  88. #80Cholera Resurgence28.1A wave of outbreaks driven by conflict, floods and broken water systems.Global
  89. #81Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict22.1A resolved territorial war that produced the near-total displacement of a population.Caucasus
  90. #82Snakebite Envenoming21.7A hundred thousand deaths a year and an antivenom shortage.Global
  91. #82Snakebite Envenoming21.7A neglected rural killer with an effective treatment that rarely reaches victims.Global
  92. #83Riverine and Flash Flooding19.7The most frequent disaster type worldwide.Global
  93. #84Kumamoto Earthquake13.4A magnitude-7.1 earthquake in Japan's Kumamoto region reportedly killed at least 13 people and forced more than 9,000 residents to evacuate.Kumamoto, Japan
  94. Extreme Heat85.0estWet-bulb conditions approaching survivability limits.Global
  95. Drought78.0estMulti-year droughts across Africa, Asia and the Americas.Global
  96. Lack of Surgical Access76.0estFive billion people without safe, affordable surgery.Global
  97. Informal and Unsafe Work72.0estTwo billion workers with no protection.Global
  98. Workplace Deaths68.0estNearly three million work-related deaths a year.Global
  99. Antibiotic Pipeline Failure67.0estAlmost no new classes in development.Global
  100. Freshwater and Groundwater Depletion67.0estAquifers that took millennia to fill are being drained within a lifetime.Global
  101. PFAS and Forever Chemicals66.0estIndustrial chemicals that do not break down are now in almost every human bloodstream.Global
  102. Rapid Unplanned Urbanisation65.0estCities growing faster than water, transport or drainage.Global
  103. Pandemic Preparedness Gap62.0estThe world remains structurally unprepared for the next respiratory pandemic.Global
  104. Coral Reef Collapse60.0estRepeated mass bleaching is dismantling the most biodiverse marine ecosystem.Global
  105. Afghanistan Humanitarian Collapse58.0estEconomic collapse, aid cuts and systematic exclusion of women have created one of the largest aid caseloads in the world.South Asia
  106. Medicine and Vaccine Shortages58.0estFragile single-source supply for essential drugs.Global
  107. Taiwan Strait Tensions57.0estA potential conflict that would be the largest economic shock in modern history.East Asia
  108. Insect and Pollinator Decline56.0estThe animals that pollinate a third of our food are disappearing.Global
  109. Dengue Expansion55.0estMosquito range spreading with the climate.Global
  110. South Sudan Crisis52.0estPolitical violence, flooding and economic collapse in the world youngest country.East Africa
  111. Landslides50.0estDeforested slopes plus heavier rain.Global
  112. Crop and Livestock Disease49.0estMonoculture staples exposed to single pathogens.Global
  113. Out-of-School Children49.0estA quarter of a billion children with no schooling.Global
  114. Somalia Conflict and Al-Shabaab Insurgency49.0estInsurgency, clan conflict and repeated drought compound one of the worst humanitarian situations on earth.East Africa
  115. West African Coup Belt48.0estA run of military takeovers across the region.Africa
  116. Lebanon Economic and Security Crisis47.0estA currency collapse and a border war layered on top of each other.Middle East
  117. Power Grid Fragility46.0estAgeing grids meeting rising electrification demand.Global
  118. Closing Civic Space45.0estNGO laws shutting down independent organisation.Global
  119. Korean Peninsula Tensions44.0estA nuclear-armed standoff alongside one of the most severe closed-country humanitarian situations.East Asia
  120. Digital Divide42.0estA third of humanity still offline.Global
  121. Gambling Harm40.0estOnline betting normalised and largely unregulated.Global
  122. Diarrhoeal Disease in Children38.0estChildren still die in large numbers from an illness treatable with salt, sugar and clean water.Global
  123. LGBTQ Persecution38.0estCriminalisation in dozens of countries.Global
  124. Rohingya Refugee Crisis36.0estA stateless population in indefinite camp confinement with shrinking rations.South Asia
  125. Solar Storm Risk36.0estA Carrington-class event would take down grids for months.Global
  126. South China Sea Disputes36.0estOverlapping claims and repeated maritime confrontations.Asia
  127. Infrastructure Cyberattacks35.0estPower, water and hospitals as routine targets.Global
  128. Elder Care Deficit34.0estAgeing populations without care systems.Global
  129. Nuclear Waste Storage34.0estNo permanent repository nearly anywhere.Global
  130. Prison Overcrowding33.0estMass pretrial detention in inhumane conditions.Global
  131. Semiconductor Concentration33.0estAdvanced chips made in one seismic, contested zone.Asia
  132. Eastern DRC Ebola Outbreak29.0estEastern Congo's rapidly growing Ebola outbreak has killed over 1,500 people and is worsening hunger amid conflict and response shortfalls.Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
  133. Libya Instability29.0estA divided state, migrant abuse and periodic armed clashes over a decade after the civil war.North Africa
  134. Typhoon Noul in China29.0estTyphoon Noul has reportedly killed at least 10 people and prompted the evacuation of more than 715,000 residents in China.China
  135. Pakistan Monsoon Floods27.0estMonsoon rains and flash floods in Pakistan have killed at least 109 people over the past month, according to disaster authorities.Pakistan
  136. Demographic Contraction26.0estFertility below replacement across most of the world.Global
  137. Multilateral Deadlock26.0estThe bodies meant to handle all of the above are blocked.Global
  138. Asteroid Impact Risk17.0estLow probability, unbounded consequence, thin detection.Global
  139. Autonomous Weapons15.0estLethal targeting decisions moving to software.Global
  140. Laboratory Biosafety Gaps14.0estHigh-containment labs expanding with uneven oversight.Global
  141. Judicial Executions8.0estRising execution counts in a handful of states.Global
  142. Dual-Use Research Risk7.0estEnhancement research published without controls.Global
  143. AI Catastrophic Risk—Capability advancing faster than any governance.Global
  144. AI Labour Disruption—Automation arriving faster than retraining.Global
  145. Amazon Dieback Risk—Rainforest approaching a savannah transition.Americas
  146. Biodiversity Loss—A million species facing extinction.Global
  147. Ceuta Spain-Morocco Border Crisis—A mass crossing into Ceuta reportedly involved tens of thousands of migrants and killed at least 67 people through drowning and a stampede.Ceuta, Spain-Morocco border
  148. Chemical and PFAS Pollution—Forever chemicals in nearly all drinking water tested.Global
  149. Child Labour—A hundred and sixty million children working.Global
  150. Coral Reef Collapse—Mass bleaching events now occurring back to back.Global
  151. Corruption and Illicit Flows—Public revenue drained offshore at scale.Global
  152. Cybercrime—Trillions in annual losses and industrialised ransomware.Global
  153. Dementia—Cases set to triple as populations age.Global
  154. Democratic Backsliding—More people under autocratising than democratising rule.Global
  155. Desertification—Productive land turning to desert across drylands.Global
  156. Disability Exclusion—A sixth of humanity shut out of work and services.Global
  157. Disinformation—Shared facts eroding as synthetic media scales.Global
  158. Ebola and Marburg Outbreaks—Recurrent filovirus emergencies with thin response capacity.Africa
  159. Economic Inequality—Wealth concentration distorting politics as well as markets.Global
  160. Electronic Waste—Toxic informal recycling in a handful of countries.Global
  161. Engineered Pandemic Risk—Synthesis capability outpacing biosecurity controls.Global
  162. Falling Vaccination Coverage—Measles and polio returning to eliminated regions.Global
  163. Food Price Shocks—Price spikes causing hunger faster than droughts.Global
  164. Glacier and Snowpack Loss—Seasonal water storage for two billion people melting away.Global
  165. Groundwater Depletion—Aquifers drained faster than any recharge rate.Global
  166. Health Worker Shortage—A shortfall of ten million staff, worst where need is highest.Global
  167. India Monsoon Floods—Monsoon flooding has reportedly killed more than 440 people across five Indian states.India
  168. Indiana Floods—Severe flooding in eastern Indiana has killed at least six people, forced evacuations and damaged roads and a bridge.Indiana, United States
  169. Indigenous Land Rights—Defenders killed at several per week.Global
  170. Indonesia Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake—An August 2026 earthquake in Indonesia has reportedly killed 47 people, with Manggarai Regency recording the most deaths.Indonesia
  171. Insect Decline—Pollinator collapse under pesticides and habitat loss.Global
  172. Korean Peninsula Standoff—Nuclear-armed deadlock with collapsing communication channels.Asia
  173. Lafon Hunger Crisis—Food shortages in Lafon, South Sudan, have reportedly killed 49 people after repeated flooding and a prolonged dry spell damaged crops.Lafon, South Sudan
  174. Maternal and Child Mortality—Preventable deaths concentrated in a few dozen countries.Global
  175. Measles Resurgence—Outbreaks following pandemic immunisation gaps.Global
  176. Megacity Earthquake Risk—Tens of millions in unreinforced buildings on live faults.Global
  177. Nepal Flash Floods—Glacier-collapse floods killed at least 1,356 people, left nearly 4,900 missing and created urgent water, sanitation and recovery needs.Nepal
  178. Ocean Acidification—Carbon chemistry dissolving the base of marine food webs.Global
  179. Oman Tanker Oil Spill—A grounded tanker is reportedly leaking crude oil off Oman, threatening marine ecosystems and coastlines.Oman coast
  180. Orbital Debris—A cascade would take out global navigation and weather data.Global
  181. Plastic Pollution—Microplastics now found in every human tissue sampled.Global
  182. Pollinator Loss—A third of food crops dependent on declining pollinators.Global
  183. Press Freedom Decline—Record journalist imprisonment and near-total impunity.Global
  184. Sahel Insurgency—Jihadist expansion across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.Africa
  185. Sea Level Rise—Permanent inundation on a fixed schedule.Global
  186. Somalia Insurgency—Al-Shabaab attacks compounding drought and hunger.Africa
  187. Sovereign Debt Distress—Debt service outranking health and education budgets.Global
  188. State Digital Surveillance—Commercial spyware as routine repression.Global
  189. Statelessness—Millions with no nationality and no rights.Global
  190. Supply Chain Fragility—Global trade running through a few chokepoints.Global
  191. Taiwan Strait Tensions—Military pressure around the world's chip supply.Asia
  192. Tropical Storm Lala in Hawaii—USDA assistance is being made available to Hawaiian agricultural producers affected by Tropical Storm Lala.Hawaii, United States
  193. Unidentified Major Earthquakes of August 2026—Two powerful earthquakes reportedly killed 3,535 people, injured more than 16,700 and left thousands missing at an unspecified location.Unspecified
  194. United States Billion-Dollar Disasters in 2026—Twelve billion-dollar disasters have reportedly struck the United States in 2026, causing $31.9 billion in losses.United States
  195. Venezuela June Earthquakes—Conflicting social-media reports say Venezuela's June earthquakes killed thousands and left nearly 18,000 people homeless.Venezuela
  196. Youth Unemployment—A demographic bulge with nowhere to work.Global