The World Economic Forum’s Global Cooperation Barometer 2025 offers a critical assessment of the state of global cooperation, showing a world grappling with heightened competition and conflict, while also identifying various areas where leaders can drive progress through innovative collaboration.
Released amid geopolitical, technological and sociopolitical upheaval, the Forum’s flagship annual report underscores the urgency of addressing shared challenges and offers leaders guidance on what cooperation can look like in a shifting world. The Global Cooperation Barometer 2025, developed in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, uses 41 indicators to measure the current state of global cooperation, said the press release of WEF.
The Global Cooperation Barometer was first launched in 2024.
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025, taking place in Davos-Klosters from 20 to 24 January, convenes global leaders under the theme, Collaboration for the Intelligent Age. The meeting aiming to offer leaders a tool to better understand the contours of cooperation broadly and along five pillars: trade and capital flows, innovation and technology, climate and natural capital, health and wellness, and peace and security will foster new partnerships and insights to shape a more sustainable, inclusive future in an era of rapidly advancing technology, focusing on Reimagining Growth, Industries in the Intelligent Age, Investing in People, Safeguarding the Planet, and Rebuilding Trust.
The Barometer draws on new data to provide an updated picture of the global cooperation landscape, with a particular focus on the impact of the new technological age. “The Barometer is being released at a moment of great global instability and at a time when many new governments are developing agendas for the year, and their terms, ahead,” said Børge Brende, President and CEO of the World Economic Forum.
The latest edition of the Barometer highlights that global cooperation is at a critical juncture. This has been driven by a sharp decline of the peace and security pillar of the Barometer over the past seven years, caused by mounting geopolitical tensions and competition which have significantly eroded global collective security, remained resilient and revealed emerging opportunities for international cooperation.
Despite this, global flows of services, capital and people showed resilience. Foreign direct investment surged, particularly in strategic sectors like semiconductors and green energy, while labour migration and remittances rebounded strongly, surpassing pre-pandemic levels underscoring the urgent need for adaptive, solutions-driven leadership to navigate a turbulent global landscape, the report concludes.