There are three main conditions that must be met: (1) risks should be non-uniform at the national level, (2) high-risk regions should be well-defined and bounded, and (3) hotspot assessments should be supported by robust information and data. Both steps will vary depending on the scope, scale and time horizon, as well as the level of information. This exercise identified China, India, and the United States as the top three water risk hotspot countries for agriculture production.