A Look Back at 2021

• The Continued Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

• The Recovery of the Global Economic Recovery

• The Rivalry Between the United States and China

• A Shifting Global Balance of Power

The Impact of Covid-19 in 2022

• The Continuing Spread of the Virus and its New Variants

• The Outlook for Vaccine Distribution

• The Outlook for Further Lockdown Measures

• Timing for a Return to Full Normality

The Economic Outlook for 2022

• The Economic Outlook for All Major Economies

• The Potential for an End to the Recovery

• The Outlook for International Trade and Investment

• The Main Economic Risks of 2022

Geopolitics in 2022

• The Leading Geopolitical Risks of 2022

• The Retrenching United States

• The Outlook for 2022's Most Important Elections

• The Impact of Geopolitics on the Global Economy

Key Issues to Watch in 2022

• The Threat of a Worsening Labor Shortages

• Weaker Economies Face a Long-Term Struggle

• The Outlook for International Trade and Investment

• The Outlook for Productivity Growth

Long-Term Trends to Watch

• Demographic changes

• Rising protectionism and nationalism

• Sluggish productivity growth

• The impact of environmental changes

Economic Highlights

• The global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic remains highly uneven, with some economies struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels of output.

• More competitive economies with a strong presence in high-tech and high-growth industries have returned to growth much faster than other economies.

• Governments will struggle to cope with the huge deficits that resulted from the economic stimulus measures enacted during the pandemic.

• The center of global economic power will continue to shift towards the Asia-Pacific region, even as economic growth in China fails to return to earlier levels.

• Declining working-age populations, an uncertain outlook for trade and investment, and falling productivity growth rates will make it more difficult to generate long-term economic growth.

Geopolitical Highlights

• The growing rivalry between the United States and China will come to dominant many aspects of the global geopolitical climate.

• China's growing assertiveness in Asia and further abroad will result in more countries working together to counter China's rising power.

• There will be a series of interesting elections taking place in 2022, including those in the United States, Brazil, Australia, France and South Korea.

• Political polarization and the fragmentation of politics will make it increasing difficult for stable governments to be formed and to remain in power in many parts of the world.

• Conflict risk will remain dangerously high in many parts of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and East Europe in 2022.