This important report, Global Trends 2030–Alternative Worlds, released in 2012 by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, describes megatrends and potential game changers for the next decades. Among the megatrends, it analyzes: 

-    increased individual empowerment
-    the diffusion of power among states and the ascent of a networked multi-polar world
-    a world’s population growing to 8.3 billion people, of which sixty percent will live in urbanized areas, and surging cross-border migration
-    expanding demand for food, water, and energy

It furthermore describes potential game changers, including:

-    a global economy that could thrive or collapse
-    increased global insecurity due to regional instability in the Middle East and South Asia
-    new technologies that could solve the problems caused by the megatrends
-    the possibility, but by no means the certainty, that the U.S. with new partners will reinvent the international system

Students of trends, forward-looking entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades will find this essential reading.