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Key Trends with a Major Impact on Our Nation and Its Government (video)

Posted on September 13, 2018
An increasingly volatile world makes understanding evolving trends and issues essential. Our latest strategic plan for 2018-2023 explores eight key trends which will have serious consequences for our nation and its government. Our video explains trends and emerging issues that could impact the nation and shape our audit work.

GAO: GAO's Strategic Plan -- Key Trends

GAO: GAO's Strategic Plan -- Key Trends
  Key Trends
  • Global security threats—such as cyberattacks and activities of international and homegrown terrorists
  • Impacts on the U.S. workforce due to new technologies and the new skills they require, automation, and the need to train workers using our country’s educational systems
  • Science and technology advances, such as genome editing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin
  • The federal government’s increasing debt making a fiscal crisis more likely, reducing national savings and income, increasing government’s interest costs; and limiting response to unforeseen events
  • Impacts of differing economic growth among nations—our policies have not addressed the needs of countries experiencing globalization and technological change
  • Changes caused by shifting demographics—the effect of population growth, aging, increased diversity, and income inequality on major government programs and budgets
  • Challenges faced by the federal government—an increased reliance on contractors and other parties to get things done, while facing evolving issues like health care and aging infrastructure
  • Environmental security–balancing the need to use natural resources critical to our economy with an increasingly stressed environment  and the need for sustainability
For more on these key trends, check out the full report.
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