The U.S. budget deficit is a bigger threat than terrorism, a survey of top economists published Monday said.

In its twice-yearly survey of assessing risks to the domestic economy, the National Association of Business Economics found that 27 percent of those polled said the deficit was the single biggest threat to economic growth in the near-term, while 24 percent said that terrorism was the biggest threat.

NABE also said "economists have largely stopped worrying about employment, household debt, and inflation."

But in the long run, 22 percent said that a growing elderly population and higher healthcare costs were the biggest obstacles to growth, compared to the ballooning deficit which cornered 21 percent of all votes.

NABE surveyed 172 economists who are members of the organization.