Foreword from Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA
October 13, 2025
In a constantly evolving world, anticipating and understanding future risks is essential to better address them. For the past twelve years, AXA has explored emerging threats and their potential impacts in its Future Risks Report, fostering a collective reflection and a call to action to build a safer and more sustainable future.
Every era presents its own challenges. This 2025 edition highlights a world of rising polarizations confronting the globalization of risks. It questions how to combat our increasingly interconnected crises. Social fragmentation is more than ever a threat to our society’s wellbeing, fueled by demographic changes, geopolitical tensions, misinformation and, more indirectly, by key challenges such as climate change and its repercussions – natural disasters, degradation of natural resources, food shortages.
This year, the report shows how this polarization and the decline in social and political cohesion generate additional threats. Whether it’s the crisis of liberal democracy or the growing distrust in public authorities’ ability to effectively manage crises, the feeling of vulnerability is at its peak, both among experts and the general population.
At the dawn of this global shift where our frameworks are being questioned, we need strategic thinking, collective leadership, and innovative ideas. We must co-build a clear vision of the future, deepen cooperation in critical risk areas, and create effective agile frameworks. Global challenges — such as climate change, risks related to artificial intelligence, or financial instability — require more structured international cooperation and enhanced regulation. We have the means.
Public-private sector cooperation is vital to leverage both the experience and the expertise of businesses in continuously adapting, managing risks, and responding to crises.
In this complex environment, insurers also play a crucial role, not only in preventing and mitigating risks, but also in helping to build a more cohesive and resilient society. At AXA, we are fully committed to acting for human progress by protecting what matters, and we are convinced we are not alone. We must act together today, with vision and determination, to overcome the risks of tomorrow and build a safer and more sustainable future.
Executive summary
The Future Risks Report 2025 examines the perceptions of two groups—insurance experts, drawn from AXA and its professional networks, and members of the general population across the globe—about the most important future risks. These range from persistent concerns about climate change to escalating social and geopolitical tensions, the rapidly increasing capabilities of AI, and shifting demographics adding to pressure on public finances.
This year, our survey spotlights how social fragmentation is compounding the world’s vulnerability to risk. Confidence is declining in the capacity of public authorities to handle the deepening global polycrisis, while the unprecedented pace at which technological risks are emerging makes risk management and decision-making increasingly complex. In this challenging environment, insurers are increasingly vital—not only in preventing and mitigating risks, but also in building a more cohesive and resilient society.
Click here to find out more about the key findings and to read the report in full.
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