Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Geopolitical conflicts loom large
Economy | Inflation
January 16, 2024 – Davos—the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting—is in full swing through January 19. All this week, our daily charts will focus on some of the key themes of the event, including resilience, sustainability, reimagining globalization, generative AI, and inclusive, equitable growth. For more, see “McKinsey and the World Economic Forum 2024.”
Geopolitical instability has risen as a potential threat to global growth for 2024, cited by 67 percent of executives in a recent McKinsey Global Survey. Concerns about transitions of political leadership also rose, senior partner Sven Smit and colleagues find. Fears about inflation, meanwhile, have continued to recede, dropping from more than 30 percent in March 2023 to less than 20 percent at the end of the year.
To read the survey, see “Economic conditions during turbulent times, December 2023,” December 20, 2023.
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Visual form
Multi-series line chart.
Layout / body structure
A single plot tracks five risk lines across four survey points from March 2023 through December 2023, with the legend listed to the right.
What is being compared
It compares the share of respondents naming different threats to global growth, including geopolitical instability and conflicts, slowdown in China’s economic activity, volatile energy prices, inflation, and transitions of political leadership.
Measurement system
The vertical axis is percentage of respondents and the horizontal axis marks the survey waves in March, June, September, and December 2023.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Five colored lines run across the chart, with the geopolitical-instability line staying highest, the inflation line stepping down over time, and the political-transition line climbing upward late in the year.
Main takeaway from the visual
Geopolitical instability remains the dominant visible concern through the whole year, while inflation fades and political transitions emerge as a more important late-year risk.
Key standout values or extremes
The geopolitical line ends around 67 percent in December, inflation falls from the mid-30s in March to about 18 by December, and transitions of political leadership rise from the single digits to roughly 20 by year-end.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.