The world is ill-prepared to prevent another pandemic
The global average score for the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens is just 28.4 out of 100.
Image: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues
Stay up to date:
COVID-19
- According to the 2021 Global Health Security Index, the world isn't well equipped to prevent another pandemic.
- The global average score for the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens is just 28.4 out of 100.
- The index showed 113 countries are found to show “little to no attention” to zoonotic diseases, the same type believed to cause COVID-19.
While the world’s overall preparedness score in the 2021 Global Health Security Index isn't particularly good, it is markedly worse in the Prevention category. The global average score for the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens is just 28.4 out of 100, as 113 countries are found to show “little to no attention” to zoonotic diseases, i.e. diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans, such as Covid-19 according to current knowledge.

As the following chart shows, other categories also score far below the maximum of 100, with just one of the six pillars of health security reaching a global average score above 50. Worryingly, it’s the early stages of an epidemic, pandemic where the world seems particularly vulnerable. With a global average Prevention score of 28.4 out of 100 and an Early Detection & Reporting score of 32.3, the world seems dangerously underprepared to stop a future epidemic before it becomes a pandemic.
What is the World Economic Forum doing about epidemics?
Accept our marketing cookies to access this content.
These cookies are currently disabled in your browser.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Health and Healthcare SystemsSee all
Ira Martopullo and Paulo Neves
May 30, 2025
Shyam Bishen
May 27, 2025
Daniella Diaz Cely
May 27, 2025
Silvio Dulinsky
May 23, 2025