Aon’s 2025 Global Risk Management Survey[1], published October 1[2], pulls in responses from 2,941 business leaders across 63 countries. Cyber attack and data breach remain the number one global risk, unchanged from 2023. Business interruption and economic slowdown take the second and third spots.
Rankings in 2025
The current list shows cyber attacks first, business interruption second, and economic slowdown third. Regulatory changes are in fourth. Competition moved up five places to fifth. Commodity price risk sits at six. Supply chain failure dropped to seventh, down one. Reputational damage is eighth. Geopolitical volatility, which was 21st just two years ago, is now ninth. Liquidity and cash flow risk rounds out the ten.
Reported losses show the weight of these risks. Around 40 percent of firms cited lost income due to interruption in the past year. One in three linked losses to slower growth. Another 30 percent pointed to supply chain disruption, and just under that figure blamed regulatory shifts.
Looking at 2028
By 2028 the order shifts. Cyber still leads, but economic slowdown moves to second. Competition climbs to third, up from tenth in 2023. Commodity price volatility rises to fourth. Geopolitical volatility climbs again, projected at fifth.
Business interruption, now second, is set to fall to seventh. Artificial intelligence jumps into the eighth spot, a rise of 21 places compared with today. Climate change follows in ninth, seven places higher than its current position. Liquidity risk stays tenth.
Political risks spreading
Geopolitical volatility is the sharpest mover outside of AI. It rose 12 places between 2023 and 2025 and is forecast to climb four more by 2028. Regional splits show why. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it is already sixth today and expected to be third within three years. In North America, it ranks 13th now but will rise into the top six. In Asia-Pacific, it climbs from 11th to fourth. Latin America places it lower, moving from 17th to 13th.
Climate and weather
Climate risk now features in the future top ten for the first time. Losses from weather-related disasters reached 100 billion dollars in the first half of 2025, the highest since 2011. Floods in Spain and Brazil, wildfires in California, and a rare freeze in Texas all drove costs higher. The report links climate to wider problems, with weather disruption amplifying supply chain failure and financial exposure.
Gaps in preparedness
Few companies track these risks in detail. Only 14 percent of respondents said they quantify their exposure to the top ten risks. Just 19 percent use analytics to test insurance programs. Across cyber risk specifically, fewer than half of companies reported having continuity plans or quantification models in place.
Workforce and technology
Workforce issues did not enter the global top ten but remain costly. Absenteeism ranks 39th overall but is the most frequent driver of reported losses in the past year. Healthcare costs also weigh heavily, ranking 45th overall yet cited as a common loss factor. Competition for AI talent is already raising costs, concentrating in specific regions and leaving smaller companies behind.
Survey scope
The findings are based on input from executives across industries including manufacturing, finance, retail, natural resources, and healthcare. Respondents ranged from small firms under 50 employees to global companies with more than 50,000 staff. The survey is conducted every two years, with the 2025 edition marking its tenth release.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
Read next: Google AI Overviews Now Draw Half of Their Sources from Organic Search[3]
References
- ^ Survey (assets.aon.com)
- ^ published October 1 (www.aon.com)
- ^ Google AI Overviews Now Draw Half of Their Sources from Organic Search (www.digitalinformationworld.com)