Global Uncertainties

Online fraud generated £52 billion worldwide in 2007 (ACPO National Strategic Assessment 2008)
Over 1 in 5 in the UK have been a victim of online identity theft (Get Safe Online 2009)
The computer systems of the Executive Branch agencies and the Congress are now under cyber attack an average of 1.8 billion times per month
For economic online crime, such as fraud or stealing information, the biggest category is in-house employees, who commit over 90 per cent of these offences
Cybercrime costs American companies a median loss of $3.8 million a year

Since 2000, the world has witnessed over 35 major conflicts and some 2,500 disasters
Over two billion people have been affected by conflicts
In 2007, the estimated number of people displaced within their own country by armed conflicts and violence passed 26 million
Nearly 60 per cent of small arms are in civilian hands
One third of countries spend more on the military than they do on health-care services
At the end of 2009, there were 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, 15 million of which were refugees
In 2010 there are an estimated 214 million international migrants globally
In 2005 over 1.3 billion of the world’s population were living on less than 1.25 dollar a day
One third of deaths - some 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes
Currently, more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished. This number will increase as the world’s population is projected to increase from 6 to 9 billion by 2050
In July 1998, 120 Member States of the United Nations adopted a treaty to establish the first permanent international criminal court to try war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity

Unlike a chemical or nuclear attack, a biological attack may go undetected for hours, days, or potentially weeks until people, animals, or plants show symptoms of disease
First used in World War I, chemical weapons drew from existing industrial chemicals
The Chemical Weapons Convention was ratified by more than 160 nations in 1997 with the goal of eliminating state production, storage, and use of chemical agents
The United States is actively destroying its stockpile of chemical agents and has successfully eliminated over 25 per cent to date
The Geneva Convention of 1925 prohibited 'bacteriological methods of warfare', but did not outlaw the development of such weapons
The August 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been the only use or detonation of nuclear weapons except for testing purposes
The primary obstacles to a nuclear attack include limited access to weapon-grade nuclear materials and difficulties in building and transporting nuclear devices
A 'dirty bomb' is one type of Radiological Dispersal Device that uses a conventional explosion to disperse radioactive material over a targeted area
Nearly 60 per cent of small arms are in civilian hands
One third of countries spend more on the military than they do on health-care services

There were 11,808 terrorism incidents worldwide in 2008
Around 75,000 people were killed or wounded in terrorist incidents in 2009
Between 2001 and 2007, 1,165 people have been arrested and 41 individuals have been convicted under the Terrorism Act

The estimated date of oil exhaustion is in 2047
Worldwide, 2.4 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking and 1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity
In 2000, more than 900 million urban dwellers lived in slums, representing nearly a third of all urban dwellers worldwide
2.6 billion people lack access to improved sanitation. Every day, diarrhoeal diseases cause some 6,000 deaths, mostly among children under five
The number of natural disasters has grown from fewer than 100 in 1975 to more than 400 in 2005 (PDF)
Approximately 2.6 billion people were affected by natural disasters over the past ten years, compared to 1.6 billion the previous decade
Approximately 13 times more people die per reported disaster in developing countries than in developed countries
The poor and elderly in low-latitude and less-developed areas are likely to suffer most
The UN predicts that millions of people will be flooded annually by 2080 due to sea-level rise
The loss to China's overall travel economy due to SARS in 2003 was thought to be around $20.4 billion

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime and includes measures to control illegal firearms and counter trafficking in people, particularly migrants
As many as 800,000 people may be trafficked across international borders annually, with many more trafficked within the borders of their own countries
The annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labour are 31.7 million dollars
Almost 90 per cent of the worldÂ´s illicitly produced opiates originate in the 'Golden Crescent' (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan) and the 'Golden Triangle' (Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand)
Afghanistan and Myanmar are the two main countries of illicit opium poppy cultivation
Most of the worldÂ´s coca is grown in the Andean countries (Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia) which together account for more than 98 per cent of world cocaine supplies