Characterizing the Global Polycrisis: A Systematic Review of Recent Literature

The term polycrisis has gained prominence, capturing the interconnected nature of global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, conflicts, and economic instability. Originating in the 1960s, the concept now reflects the growing complexity and interactions among global crises. In this article, we conduct a two-step systematic review of the definitions, components, drivers, and interventions of the polycrisis. After scanning 2,299 publications, we analyzed 59. Coding for definitions and descriptions, we clustered crises, drivers, and interventions. Results indicate a common understanding of the polycrisis as multiple co-occurring, causally entangled crises with synergistic and cascading effects on multiple systems degrading humanity's prospects . While crises such as climate change, the human health crisis, and inequality are frequently mentioned, their interactions remain underexplored. Drivers often stem from systemic societal and economic factors, and the proposed interventions emphasize a need for transformational change. Future research should explore causal pathways, identify vulnerabilities, review interventions, and harmonize knowledge systems for action.