As 2013 reaches its end and we prepare to welcome its successor, there’s usually a moment of pause to review the past, while sneaking a peek at what lies ahead. Let’s focus on the later and see what are the major global issues for 2014.

The World Economic Forum has published it’s Annual “Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014”

It identifies the the top 10 Trends for 2014, discusses the Future Agenda for the year, presents specific regional Challenges and maps the networking & interconnections between all of them.

The top 10 Trends for 2014, ranked by global importance ( a regional rating is also provided) are:

1. Rising societal tensions in the Middle East and North Africa
2. Widening income disparities
3. Persistent structural unemployment
4. Intensifying cyber threats
5. Inaction on climate change
6. The diminishing confidence in economic policies
7. A lack of values in leadership
8. The expanding middle class in Asia
9. The growing importance of megacities
10. The rapid spread of misinformation online

each trend is clearly presented using – among others – excellent visualizations / infographics. As an example take a look at the depiction of trend number 3 “Persistent structural unemployment”

It’s also quite interesting to go through the future agenda – take a look at the continuously shifting “landscape” ( pun intended) of orbital spacecraft launches. US is gradually becoming a lesser player and China rises in this domain as well.

Overall it makes for quite an interesting read – especially during a – hopefully calm & relaxed – Christmas vacation day.

What’s your favorite infographic out of the report? Are the top 10 trends things that you have already considered? What kind of impact might they have in your personal or professional life?