The biggest threat to the global economy isn’t a natural disaster or disease. It’s ourselves.
Man-made risks like cybercrime and interstate conflicts rank among the biggest threats to the world’s cities, according to this year’s Lloyd City Risk Index. And the No. 1 threat? A financial market crash.
The Lloyd City Risk Index, which was created in collaboration with Cambridge University, measures the impact of 22 threats on 279 cities’ projected economic output. Here are the top 10 threats to the global economy, according to the report:
Should a financial crash occur, the world would lose an estimated $103.33 billion in economic output, according to Lloyd’s analysis.
The Lloyd City Risk Index’s also outlined the leading threat in a handful of major cities. While Los Angeles is at greatest risk of flooding and Shanghai residents are most threatened by tropical windstorms, both New York and London are most threatened by a market crash, and a market crash is also the single costliest risk for the entire region of North American and Europe. The greatest risk for cities in the Middle East and Africa is interstate conflict.
Man-made threats account for 59 percent of the total risk to the world economy, the report said.