Abstract: Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) are natural hazards to the socioeconomic system in hazard regions. However, their predictions still remain worldwide challenge, and thus have attracted much attention in the scientific community as well as society at large. As a result, much progress has been made in risk assessment of hazards from glacier lake outbursts. This paper provides an overview of the subject both nationally and internationally. The reviews show that the previous studies focused mainly on the triggering mechanisms and characteristics of glacier lake outbursts, the risk assessment and probabilistic estimation of glacier lake outbursts, and the prediction of maximum GLOF discharge, as well as the GLOF simulation. However, only a few studies have been made on the risk assessment of vulnerability, exposure and adaptation for the socioeconomic system in hazard regions. Therefore, there is a need to enhancing the comprehensive risk assessment of hazards from glacier lake outbursts, towards a better understanding of the characteristics and dynamics of GLOF risks. The comprehensive risk assessment can provide an important theoretical reference to hazard preventions and mitigations, as well as the establishment of early warning system in hazard regions.