The possibility of a fiscal crisis is the biggest risk to doing business globally, according to a survey of World Economic Forum business leaders published on Tuesday, though there were strong regional differences in views of the biggest risk.

In North America and Europe, cyber attacks were considered the biggest risk. Environmental risks were the top concern in South Asia, which highlighted water crises, and in East Asia and the Pacific, which identified natural catastrophes.

Overall, the executives put fiscal crises as the top risk over the next 10 years, followed by cyber attacks and unemployment or underemployment, the WEF’s Executive Opinion Survey showed.

The survey of 12,897 business leaders from 133 countries makes up part of the WEF's global competitiveness report, published before the January Davos forum.

The survey was published by WEF together with Marsh & McLennan and Zurich Insurance.