The Top Economic Threats to Every Country

Industrial Espionage Spy Stealing Information

Written By: BOSS Editorial Team

Published: April 4, 2019 | Updated: July 11, 2025

Reading Time: 2 minutes

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New research reveals each country’s biggest danger to its economy

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There are countless predictions over what will be the next biggest threat to our economy, from risk of international conflict to failure of national governance, cyber attacks, and even natural catastrophes.

Using World Economic Forum data, RS Components has mapped out the biggest risks to every country’s economy. Although the global economic outlook is stable right now, risks are always looming on the horizon. Question is, are we implementing the correct precautions to ensure we avoid these economical disasters as much as possible?

You can view the map here. The biggest threat to economies across the world are:

Rank

Risk

Number of countries at highest risk

1

Employment

31

2

Cyber-Attacks

19

3

Government Failure

15

4

Energy Prices

14

5

Fiscal Crisis

11

Cyber Attacks are the biggest risk to the UK and US economy

Blasted across the news in the last few years, fears of cyber attacks has been on the rise, now becoming the biggest risk to both the UK and the US economy. Cyber attacks pose a threat to a country’s ability to carry out secure financial transactions, and can instill fear among the public extremely quickly. The impact these attacks can have on so many individuals makes this a threat really felt by the public, showing the power of web-based terrorism.

One such attack includes that of UK telecommunications provider TalkTalk who suffered a high profile data breach after falling victim to cyber hackers in 2015. The company lost £60 million and over 100,000 customers as a direct result of the incident.

Last year it was revealed that the cost of cyber crime is now up to 0.8 percent of global GDP or $600 billion a year. Europe suffers the highest economic impact of cyber crime, which is now estimated at 0.84 percent of the regional GDP, compared with 0.78 percent in North America, according to last year’s report on the economic impact of cyber-crime.

As a result of these threats, both the public and private sector are currently investing millions of dollars into installing cybersecurity and ensuring companies and individuals feel safe on the web.

Other issues that threaten country’s economies include: failure of national governance, which impacts the likes of Greece, Ireland, and Croatia; natural catastrophes affecting Iceland and China; and energy prices which are the biggest risk to Australia.

Will these countries manage to avoid the biggest threats to their economy?

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