2025 Global Risk Map

The Global Risk Map highlights country-specific security risk ratings based on a series of indicators including crime, health, natural disasters, infrastructure, political stability, civil unrest, and terrorism. The map aims to inform businesses and their travelers on the risks they face abroad. 

The GSI measures a country or territory’s likelihood of experiencing significant foreign-assisted destabilization in the next 5-10 years. Destabilization could present as: 

• Exacerbation of domestic tensions or unrest  

• Thawing of frozen conflict precipitated by an outside power 

• Intensification of conflict through the direct involvement of a foreign paramilitary 

• Intensification or prolonging of existing conflicts in resource-rich countries as factions are funded by granting extractive concessions.  

• Exploitation of a regime's instability by a foreign security partner.  

• Conflicts could become outright proxies for foreign contests. 

 The new Cold War has – with some major exceptions – mostly been conducted through gray zone operations. Gray zone activity is also referred to as covert operations and active measures and includes any action short of war designed to hinder, degrade, or destroy an adversary's power. Gray zone activities frequently target organizations and individuals with no direct affiliation to the state. As countries such as Russia and China increase their espionage efforts across the globe, the risk posed by state and state backed groups to companies grows.  

Risk is the product of probability and impact. Just because the probability of an untoward event is low, it doesn’t mean that a high-impact event cannot occur. Natural disasters, opportunistic crime, and terror attacks can happen almost anywhere, any place, at any time. Proper precautions should always be undertaken ahead of travel. 

The GSI is forward-looking but uses the most recent data which is from prior years. This means that many high and extreme risk countries have already undergone serious destabilization. The likelihood of destabilization is predicated on the current presence of risk factors. The stronger the factors, the higher the likelihood.