Australia and New Zealand have been named among the best places to be if you want to survive a nuclear apocalypse.
A recent study put Australia as the best place to be, with New Zealand a close second, if you want to survive a nuclear winter and lead the charge to restore humanity.
According to the research, published in the study Risk Analysis, Iceland, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu made up the rest of the top five.
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The countries came out at the top of the analysis as the island nations with the ability to best provide for themselves agriculturally after an “abrupt sunlight‐reducing catastrophe”.
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The researchers reckon there would “likely be pockets of survivors around the planet in even the most severe” but not all nations would fare the same.
For the study, 38 island countries were looked at across a selection of 13 factors.
The factors included food production, energy self-sufficiency, manufacturing and the disaster’s effect on climate.
Australia and New Zealand’s capable agriculture infrastructure and distance from many of the key nuclear powers put them at the top of the ranking.
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The study noted: “Australia’s food supply buffer is gigantic… with the potential to feed many tens of millions of extra people.”
Good healthcare, national security and energy infrastructure all also played a key role.
One concern for both countries, however, was the strong military ties between the two countries and the USA and western Europe.
Between the two, New Zealand came off better on this as it maintains a nuclear-free policy.
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Professor Nick Wilson from the University of Otago, Wellington – one of the authors in the study – said: “We have this super efficient food export economy that could feed New Zealanders multiple times over just from exports.”
He reckoned a worst-case scenario would see New Zealand’s food production damaged by 61%, which would still leave enough to feed the country.
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