Businesses have ranked political risks and violence as a top 10 global risk for the past three years, according to the "Allianz Risk Barometer 2025" demonstrating that it has become a key concern for companies of all sizes. According to a new report from Allianz Commercial, civil unrest ranks as the biggest concern for more than 50% of company respondents globally, reflecting the fact that incidents are increasing and lasting for longer.
The report, titled “Political violence and civil unrest trends 2025”, says that there have been over 800 significant anti-government protests since 2017 in more than 150 countries, not including ongoing social unrest in the Balkans and Türkiye. With more than 160 events in 2024 alone – 18% of protests lasting for more than three months.
“Political violence remains a top 10 global business risk according to our customers because politics is increasingly perceived as being dominated by populism and blame and division, geopolitics by nationalism and a changing world order, and economics by mismanagement, corruption, and continually rising disparity between the ‘rich’ and the rest,” said Srdjan Todorovic, head of Political Violence and Hostile Environment Solutions at Allianz Commercial.
Among the key drivers of company concerns in 2024 were the record-breaking year of elections around the world and the potential for civil unrest during and after these events, as well as the developing conflict in the Middle East and on-going war in Ukraine. Companies, especially in the large-corp and mid-sized segments have also been watchful of any miscalculation between China and Taiwan possibly escalating into a regional conflict.
Meanwhile, in March 2025, huge protests broke out in Türkiye after Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, was detained on corruption charges. Türkiye had already experienced a close to 80% year-on-year increase in the frequency of protest and riot activity during 2024, according to Allianz research, ranking it in the top 10 countries in the world by frequency of protests and riots in 2024.
Religious and political terrorism a major concern
The increasing frequency of plots and attacks from Islamist groups and inspired individuals, as well as supporters of other far right and far left movements are among the factors driving the complex global landscape. A growing concern is the Islamist terrorism threat in Europe, with an increasing number of attacks or plots happening over the last 12 months.
Overall, terrorist attacks jumped by 63% in the West with Europe most affected with attacks doubling to 67. At the same time, analysis shows there were more than 100 reported terrorism and right-wing extremist incidents during 2024, driven primarily by events in the US, followed by Germany. Meanwhile, far-left extremists are targeting individuals or companies who they see as contributing negatively towards issues such as climate change or inequality.
During 2024 Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates expanded its operations causing more than 1,800 deaths in 22 countries, according to “Vision of Humanity’s Global Terrorism Index”, remaining the deadliest terrorist organisation. The global threat posed by Sunni militant extremists is expected to increase further over the year ahead, driven by the humanitarian crises in the Middle East, Gaza and Lebanon.
In addition, power vacuums in the Middle East, such as the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, could enable militant extremist organisations to grow and expand over the coming year.
The report said, “Ultimately, global stability in 2025 continues to be undermined by the forces of international conflict, geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty and the prospect of trade wars.
“Businesses need to remain vigilant about the shape-shifting nature of political violence and mindful of the risk that localised unrest could significantly impact their activities.”
The top 10 countries by frequency of protests and riots in 2024 (from the most to the least) were India (18,626 events); the US (8,549); France (5,517); 4 Pakistan (5,405); Mexico (4,921); Germany (4,068); South Korea (3,931); Türkiye (3,729); Spain (2,933); and Morocco (2,857).