A growing rich-poor income gap is the biggest risk the world is facing for the next decade, while failure to create a sustainable healthcare system may create social unrest in countries like India, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Thursday.
Releasing its annual Global Risks 2014 report, Geneva- based WEF said that the income disparity was the most likely risk to cause an impact on a global scale in the next decade, while other significant risks include extreme weather events, unemployment and fiscal crises.
"In emerging markets, any failure to create sustainable universal healthcare systems – a constitutional obligation in Brazil and Turkey, and a stated ambition in India, Indonesia and South Africa – may arouse social unrest," the report said.
Based on a survey of 700 experts from across the world, the report jointly prepared by WEF and Oliver Wyman group has listed out 31 global risks that also include digital disintegration and various geopolitical risks.
The risks are grouped under five categories -- economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological -- and measured in terms of their likelihood and potential impact.
After income disparity, experts see extreme weather events as the next mostly likely global risk, followed by unemployment and underemployment, climate change and cyber attacks.