Nearly 3,000 high-level participants from business, government and the outside world — plus a significant number of activists, journalists and outside observers — are converging on the Swiss town of Davos this week for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.
What is the World Economic Forum?
The Forum is a Geneva-based think tank and events organizer, and its flagship event—the annual meeting—debuted in 1971 in Davos, a ski resort town of about 10,000 people in the eastern Swiss Alps.
The first edition organized by the founder of the forum, Klaus Schwab, was a meeting of company directors.
Since then, the meeting has grown into a full conference on topics as diverse as economic inequality, climate change, technology and global cooperation, as well as competition and conflict.
This year’s event will take place from January 19 to 23.
What is the theme of this year’s Davos forum?
The organizers of the Davos conference always speak for the meeting, and this year it is the “Spirit of Conversation”: cooperation, growth, investment in people, innovation and building prosperity around five themes. More than 200 sessions will cover a wide range of topics.
Critics say Davos is too much talk and not enough action to address global inequality and solve problems like climate change.
The world’s richest people saw their fortunes increase in 2025, part of a long-term trend of widening wealth inequality, according to one. new report It was released alongside the forum by the anti-poverty charity Oxfam. Miladun’s wealth grew three times faster than the average pace of the previous five years last year, reaching a record $18.3 billion, the group said.
At the same time, one in four people worldwide suffer from food insecurity and regularly skip meals, Oxfam said.
“The gap between the rich and the rest is widening, while creating a very dangerous and unsustainable political deficit,” Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar said in a statement.
Who will go in 2026?
Organizers say this is a record number of nearly 400 top political leaders, including more than 60 heads of state and government, and nearly 850 chairs and CEOs from many of the world’s leading companies.
The lineup is headed by US President Donald Trump, who will deliver a speech on Wednesday, and several Cabinet ministers and senior advisers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, China’s vice president from hell and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are among those receiving the most attention.
According to the organizers, 55 Ministers of Economy and Finance, 33 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 34 Ministers of Commerce, Trade and Industry and 11 governors of central banks are also expected.
Tech titans who will be on hand include Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and France’s Mistral AI’s Arthur Mensch.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are among the top officials of the international organizations.
What other issues are at stake?
The geopolitical context has become incredibly complex this year: Trump’s statements and policies on issues as diverse as Venezuela, Greenland and Iran—not to mention his tariff policies—have raised questions about America’s role in the world.
The advent of AI – its promise and perils – has become a hot topic. Business managers will analyze how to apply it to boost efficiency and profits; labor leaders and advocacy groups will warn of the threat to jobs and livelihoods, and policymakers will seek the best way forward between regulation and the right to innovate.