Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Cooperation shifts shape
Economic Development | Global Trade | Globalization
January 22, 2026 – Overall cooperation around the globe has remained broadly stable, but its structure is shifting. That’s according to the Global Cooperation Barometer 2026, developed by McKinsey and the World Economic Forum. Drawing on 41 metrics across five pillars, the report shows the strongest gains where cooperation aligns with national interests, particularly for two pillars: climate and nature and innovation and technology. Other pillars were weakened by declining multilateralism, note McKinsey’s Daniel Pacthod, Matt Watters, Olivia White, Ziad Haider, and coauthors. For two pillars—trade and capital and health and wellness—the level of cooperation flattened: trade experienced slower goods growth and services and investment flows increasingly concentrated among more aligned and smaller coalitions. In health, outcomes stabilized, but that masks growing fragility due to declining health aid, a trend that’s expected to continue in 2026. Peace and security saw the sharpest decline amid escalating conflicts, rising military spending, and record displacement, but mounting pressures are spurring an impetus for renewed cooperation through regional mechanisms. The findings highlight the need for more pragmatic, adaptive cooperation strategies.
Interactive
To read the article, see “The Global Cooperation Barometer 2026,” January 8, 2026.
customizer here
Visual form
Multi-series line chart.
Layout / body structure
The visual is structured as a single line-chart panel with a legend and hover behavior layered onto the main plot. It reads left to right across the 2012 to 2024 timeline, with a dashed vertical reference at 2020 where all series are indexed to the same baseline.
What is being compared
It compares indexed scores for six pillars of global cooperation over time: climate and natural capital, innovation and technology, trade and capital, health and wellness, peace and security, and the overall series. The chart is showing how each pillar moves relative to the common 2020 baseline rather than comparing raw totals.
Measurement system
The vertical axis uses an index scale from about 0.6 to 1.2, and every series is set to 1.0 in 2020. The horizontal axis runs from 2012 to 2024, so the key comparison is whether each pillar rises above, returns to, or falls below its indexed 2020 level.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The chart uses six colored lines, a legend keyed to those lines, a dashed 2020 marker, and hover states that surface exact values. Because all series meet at the baseline year and then spread apart, the graphic makes post-2020 divergence the central visual structure of the chart.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows overall cooperation staying broadly stable while the composition of cooperation shifts sharply by pillar. Climate and natural capital plus innovation and technology climb above baseline, trade and capital edges upward, health and wellness softens and then flattens, and peace and security breaks downward the most.
Key standout values or extremes
By 2024, climate and natural capital and innovation and technology sit a little above 1.1 on the index, while trade and capital is only slightly above 1.0. Peace and security drops to roughly 0.7 by 2024, which is the lowest point among all six pillars, and health and wellness settles just under about 0.95.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
The reader can hover the lines to inspect exact values and use the legend as the guide to the six cooperation pillars. The interaction is light, but it helps isolate each series inside a chart where multiple lines overlap around the same baseline.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart is the full visual on this page.