The UK Is One Of The Best Places To Survive The Apocalypse, Study Reveals

In an unexpected boost for us residents of the UK, a study has revealed that come the apocalypse, we’re actually pretty well placed. 

Yep, when the collapse of global society occurs and the human race inevitably descends into some hellish mix of Mad Max and The Hunger Games, it turns out the UK is very much the place to be, relatively speaking.   

Researchers found that New Zealand, Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland are the places best suited to surviving a worldwide societal collapse which could arise from things like a severe financial crisis (tick) the impacts of the climate crisis (tick), destruction of nature (tick), an even worse pandemic than Covid-19, or a combination of all of the above. 

To assess which nations would be most resilient in the event of collapse, the team ranked them according to their ability to grow food for their population, protect their borders from unwanted mass migration, and maintain an electrical grid and some manufacturing ability. 

As you’d expect, island nations in temperate regions with low population densities generally came out on top, with New Zealand sitting pretty due to its rich resources of geothermal and hydroelectric energy, abundant agricultural land and low human population density.

“We weren’t surprised New Zealand was on our list,” said Professor Aled Jones, at the Global Sustainability Institute, at Anglia Ruskin University.

“We chose that you had to be able to protect borders and places had to be temperate. So with hindsight it’s quite obvious that large islands with complex societies on them already [make up the list].

“We were quite surprised the UK came out strongly. It is densely populated, has traditionally outsourced manufacturing, hasn’t been the quickest to develop renewable technology, and only produces 50% of its own food at the moment. But it has the potential to withstand shocks.”

In less good news, the study, published in the journal Sustainability, concluded that human civilisation was in a ‘perilous state’ thanks to environmental destruction, limited resources and population growth.

The researchers said the study highlights what must be improved globally to increase resilience, and that spare capacity must be built into areas such as food production. 

Prof Jones said: "This drive for just-in-time, ever-more efficient economies isn’t the thing you want to do for resilience. We need to build in some slack in the system, so that if there is a shock you have the ability to respond because you’ve got spare capacity.

“We need to start thinking about resilience much more in global planning. But obviously, the ideal thing is that a quick collapse doesn’t happen.”

If you're wondering when exactly we can expect the apocalypse to hit, famed fortune teller, Nostradamus, has made four chilling predictions for 2025, which you can read all about: Fortune Teller Nostradamus Has Made Four Chilling Predictions For 2025