We live in a complex, fast‑moving world.

Anticipating risks is critical.

Anticipating risks together is better still.

You can make a difference!
Read on to find out how.

One day we are healthy,
the next day we face a global pandemic.


We build our home near a lovely forest,
then a reckless fire destroys the entire community.


Our neighborhoods are safe,
while addiction spreads unseen.


Food is plentiful,
until a drought destroys the crop.


We cherish peace,
yet conflicts erupt.


Just when the job market looks great,
a major downturn strikes.


Our electrical grid seems strong,
until it is hacked.


Especially when life seems good,
we need to anticipate risks.

Share your observations in The Global Risk Census to help us anticipate risks.

We really need your observations.

The world needs your observations.

And it only takes 20 minutes.

Anticipating Risks Together™

Typical users of The Global Risk Census

The Global Risk Census empowers people like you, all around the world, to observe local conditions that risk scientists can use to identify risks to people, home, community, country and indeed the entire planet.

Census human green-512px-wide
watch this 30-second video

By participating in The Global Risk Census, you are helping us to identify problems based on early observations – you are describing conditions that would otherwise remain unknown and could lead to harm if not addressed.

Your responses indicate trends. If one person says the air is getting bad where they live, that is one person’s observation. If one hundred people say the air is getting bad, that is a trend!

Your answers are always anonymous. The Global Risk Census never releases identifiable information related to the respondent, ever. All we need to know is the country you live in, your living conditions, and what you observe around you.

Finally, the entire project is free to use. We charge no fee, ever. The Global Risk Census is a public interest project.


With your help, we will make anticipating risks together a reality.

The Global Risk Census is proudly produced in partnership with these organizations.

Ready to participate?

PARTICIPATION IS 100% FREE

  • 0%

AND ONLY TAKES 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE!

Single words used by Census participants to describe the state of the world

Words appear in the language in which they were entered.

  • chaotic

  • insecurity

  • round

  • bad

  • perilous

  • critical

  • terrifying

  • precarious

  • depressing

  • complex

  • apocalyptic

  • consumerism

  • adaptation

  • violent

  • shitshow

  • evolving

  • derelict

  • degrading

  • problematic

  • better

  • crisis

  • warm

  • tragic

  • alarming

  • divided

  • unfocused

  • adapting

  • disarray

  • fragile

  • disaster

  • dynamic

  • unpredictable

  • scary

  • beautiful

  • espantoso

  • tenuous

  • uncertain

  • unequal

  • collapsing

Census Participation

As an early adopter, you are helping us fill up this map.

This week's Featured data



FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

The Global Risk Census FAQ-1

PREPARATION

We value privacy. We do not, and never will, share our participants' identity with anyone. You can read our commitment to your privacy in by using the links in the Info & Legal section at the bottom of every page on this website.

Our questionnaires are not a test, or even surveys. They seek to capture what you observe and experience in your dwelling, where you live, in your region, your country and, indeed, the world.

So instead of preparing, all you need to do is to take your time. Think about each question and provide your best possible observation.

Main Questionnaire

The core Census asks the same questions, in all languages, and in all countries. Everyone is answering the same questions. This approach provides us with the best global picture of economic, health and societal risks.

Thematic Questionnaires

For those who have some extra time to contribute responses, the Thematic Questionnaires explore different aspects of society in greater detail. These questionnaires are open to everyone but may only interest those with knowledge or curiosity in that specific field. For instance, we might ask the general public about pandemic preparedness, oral hygiene issues, or maybe safety issues for those walking and driving on city streets.

Targeted Questionnaires

The Global Risk Census produces Targeted Questionnaires that are by invitation only. These questionnaires are intended for specific groups of respondents who are more familiar with a specific topic. For example, we may ask health professionals specific questions about medical advances, journalists about freedom of the press, or airline pilots about flight safety.

We do not give you advance access to the questions, however, you can review the themes covered by our questionnaires before participating. Click on the purple link below, it will open a list of themes included both in the Main Questionnaire and in the Specialized Questionnaires.

Themes

Listed below are the themes covered in our questionnaires.

Note that themes and questions are occasionally revised and may not be identical to these; we include them to give you a broad impression of what to expect.

The Main Questionnaire

(in alphabetical order, not by order of importance or appearance)

  • Access to medical professionals
  • Access to medicines
  • Air quality
  • Animal species and biodiversity
  • Arts, entertainment and amusement options
  • Care for the elderly
  • Children’s education
  • Civil unrest
  • Climate change
  • Conflict
  • Corruption
  • Cost of healthcare
  • Crime and security
  • Drinking water safety
  • Fire and police services
  • Globalization
  • Governance
  • Internet connectivity
  • Level of life stress
  • Mental health
  • Migration
  • Needs of the disabled
  • News and information: trust and truth
  • Opportunities for youth
  • Pandemics
  • Pay equality
  • Physical fitness
  • Population health
  • Public transport
  • Recycling
  • Renewable energy
  • Road conditions
  • Social polarization
  • Standards of living and economic opportunity
  • State of health
  • Substance abuse
  • Urban amenities
  • Urban desertification
  • Vaccines
  • Waste
  • Wealth disparity
  • Workplace discrimination and harassment

Thematic and Targeted Questionnaires

In addition to the Main Questionnaire, The Global Risk Census also includes thematic and targeted questionnaires.

Thematic Questionnaires

Thematic Questionnaires explore aspects of more specific conditions. These questionnaires are open to all participants giving you an opportunity to observe and report in greater detail.

Targeted Questionnaires

Targeted Questionnaires are reserved for specific - thus targeted - respondents. These questionnaires, usually developed in collaboration with qualified stakeholders, seek to obtain more informed observations from respondents closer to a specific set of issues.

The Global Risk Census FAQ-2

PARTICIPATION

Our questionnaires are optimized for all platforms. In general, using a desktop (PC, Mac, Chrome or Linux) works better.

We strive to keep our questionnaires as brief as possible. Some can feel somewhat long, but only because their scope demands it. The Main Questionnaire of The Global Risk Census is currently 84 questions long and takes about twenty minutes to complete. The Thematic Questionnaires are mostly 10 questions long and take three to five minutes to complete.

You can pause if you are registered. If something comes up while you are filling out the Census, the door rings or you have to go run an errand, if you are registered, you can save as a draft and finish later. Unfortunately, if you are not registered, you must finish the questionnaires in one sitting.

Absolutely not, registration is optional.

You can participate in the Census a a guest, without registering. However, if you do register, you will be able to:

  1. save drafts of your unfinished questionnaires and come back to complete them later,
  2. return several months after finishing, to update your answers (updating provides our scientists with indications of change, a very important means of identifying risks).

Remember, even if you register, your answers will always remain anonymous.

Click here to register.

If you decide to register – entirely optional – we ask for very little information as follows:

  1. you enter an email address,
  2. you create a password so that you can later re-access your drafts or completed questionnaires,
  3. and nothing else.

We never ask for your name, address, telephone, or any other personal information. If someone reaches out to you asking for any of these, it is not us. We do not want, or need, your personal information.

We ask a limited number of participants to be reviewers. Reviewers go through our questionnaires and evaluate the questions for pertinence, usefulness, local applicability, and other factors that help us to either edit or remove the question before the questionnaire goes live.

The Global Risk Census FAQ-3

SHARING

Yes we are! We actively seek and welcome organizations with large memberships or constituencies.

Are you:

  • A trade union?
  • An association or federation?
  • An NGO or CSO?
  • A government agency?
  • An academic institution?
  • A large corporation?

If you are, then you probably have hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of members. Imagine if you can get just a few of them to participate in the Census. Imagine their impact.

If you would like to know more, please visit this special page reserved exclusively for those willing to reach out to their membership on behalf of The Global Risk Census.

Note that this is not a one-way request. We offer something of value in return.

Find out more.

Yes, please, absolutely. The more people participate in the Census, the more accurately our risk scientists can do their work. We encourage you to invite your nearby family and friends, as well as people you know all around the world.

If you are an influencer, you are well aware of your reach and so, yes, we would be very grateful if you could spread the word. As a public interest project we do not, however, we do not have the resources to provide remuneration for publicity.

We encourage you to promote The Global Risk Census on your social media. #globalrisk

The Global Risk Census FAQ-4

UPDATING

If you have registered on the site, you are able to return at any time and revise your answers. This is both useful and important. Revised data allows our risk scientists to continuously update their recommendations. So yes, come back. We encourage participants to do so every 12 months.

If you have registered, most of your old answers will appear (only to you) making it easy for you to simply adjust any answers that need to be adjusted. Note that for technical reasons, some of your old answers will not reappear. In those instances you will simply have to answer the question again.

Typical Risk Census participant engaging in the Census as a public service

A public interest project

Like you, all partners involved in the project consider The Global Risk Census to be a public interest project. We are all involved because it is the right thing to do.
 
Hopefully, fueled by this common purpose, we can better inform decision-makers responsible for keeping us and our planet healthy and safe.

Census News

Most recent news

Census News

Older news
The Global Risk Census 'Have you participated?' logo

News Release: A New Global Effort to Anticipate Risks Together

Apr 25, 2022

NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A NEW GLOBAL EFFORT TO ANTICIPATE RISKS TOGETHER Ottawa, Canada – April 25, 2022 – As the world becomes more complex and uncertain, there is an increasing need to anticipate risks. A new online questionnaire, The Global Risk Census (riskcensus.org), is gathering local observations to help identify potential risks before they become dangers. By filling out a 20-minute questionnaire, participants become the eyes and ears of the world in their neighborhood. The questions cover topics in health, urban infrastructure, the economy, crime, and many other aspects of society that can threaten people, homes, communities, countries, and…

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

First Risk Census Advisory Board members

Mar 11, 2022

Dr. Daniel Krewski, Director of Science of The Global Risk Census, is pleased to present the founding members of The Global Risk Census Advisory Board. The first six members, in order of date of appointment, are: Doug McNair (MD PhD) Santiago Perez-Lloret (MD PhD) Ri-Hua Xie (RN PhD FAAN) Amy Clippinger (PhD) Kim Lavoie (PhD FCPA FABMR) Nicholas You The six founding Board members hail from Canada, the United States, People’s Republic of China, Argentina, and Kenya. According to Dr. Krewski: “It is our intention to have a very diverse Advisory Board representing all continents, many countries, different professional backgrounds, gender…

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

Happy New Year

Jan 1, 2022

The entire Global Risk Census and Risk Sciences International team would like to wish all of our staff, reviewers, candidate Board Members, stakeholders and most importantly our participants, a very happy new year. We thank you for the work you have put in throughout 2021 and look forward to a successful launch in 2022. Of course, in these trying times, we wish you all a safe 2022.

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

Review period ends

Dec 20, 2021

Census reviewers have concluded their work. Their comments have led to a substantial number of improvements, replacements and additions. Dr. Daniel Krewski, Director of Science for the Global Risk Census and Chief Risk Scientist and CEO at Risk Sciences International, said: “We are pleased with the changes. As expected, the review phase was extremely helpful. Having input from countries as diverse as Australia, China, South Africa or France has, we believe, helped us to create a hopefully universal questionnaire.” The next step will come in January 2022 when The Global Risk Census will officially go online and enter its three-month…

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

Review period begins

Dec 1, 2021

The Global Risk Census is entering its first review phase. A number of reviewers from several countries have volunteered to go through the proposed Census questions looking for errors, ethical concerns and relevant choices. Reviewers are also looking for missing questions that could help further the investigative effectiveness of the Census. The review period will end on December 19, 2021.

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

Web development begins

Jun 2, 2021

Today the Risk Sciences International web team began development of The Global Risk Census website. The team hopes to have the site in ‘beta-testing’ by early November 2021. If they meet their deadline, the team will transition to the review team who hopes to launch the review phase in early December 2021.

Read full news item
Symbol of The Global Risk Census and its relationship to the Media

Question pool started

Apr 14, 2021

Today, the Risk Sciences International team has begun working on the question pool for The Global Risk Census. Their goal is to formulate a questionnaire with approximately 75 questions that will allow risk scientists to gather individual observations of risk from participants worldwide. They hope to complete the first round of writing within three months and aim to complete the review process by the end of 2021.

Read full news item

The future: We can shape it.

The Quick Questionnaire

The Quick Questionnaire

Six quick questions to introduce you to The Global Risk Census

press Enter
0 indicates NO STRESS 10 indicates EXTREME STRESS
For routine (non-emergency) medical care, I am usually able to see a doctor within:
I worry about the safety of my drinking water:
I, and those who live in the same dwelling, feel that our neighborhood is currently:
"I am worried about my country's national debt."
These sources of energy are best for our future:
Choose up to three

Use Shift+Tab to go back