Where would you go to survive a global apocalypse? For decades, this question has been fuel for countless road trip debates and pub discussions. But now, we finally have an answer. 

Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK decided to find out, once and for all: where is the best place on earth to withstand the end of days? 

Believe it or not, New Zealand came out ahead. Given the nation’s stellar record thus-far in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, it looks like the researchers may be onto something.

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Although the topic sounds frivolous, the study—published in the journal Sustainability—had fairly serious, and honourable, intentions: to identify potential “collapse lifeboats”. In other words, places that are able to escape the worst effects, and “maintain significant populations.” 

The researchers sought to discover which nations would be most resilient to a global collapse, in the hopes that they may be able to highlight key improvements that other, less resilient countries make. 

The study took into account factors such as each nation’s ability to grow enough food for its population, the ability of borders to withstand undesired mass migration, along with factoring in their ability to maintain things like manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure, like electricity. 

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Island nations in moderate climates with lower population densities won out over larger, more populous regions. 

“With hindsight, it’s quite obvious that large islands with complex societies on them already [make up the list],” said Professor Aled Jones from the Global Sustainability Institute, at Anglia Ruskin University. “We weren’t surprised New Zealand was on our list.”

NZ’s low population density, abundant farmland, geothermal and hydroelectric energy capabilities made it most likely to survive an apocalyptic event relatively unscathed. 

Professor Jones said that a nation’s ability to effectively respond to a crisis was heavily dependent on “spare capacity” and with many nations driving for “just-in-time, ever-more efficient, economies” there was a need to “build in some slack in the system, so that if there is a shock then you have the ability to respond.”

Who else made the list? Iceland, Tasmania, Ireland and— somewhat surprisingly—the UK, were also identified as well-suited to surviving a global collapse.

If you’re down for some light reading, the full report An Analysis of the Potential for the Formation of ‘Nodes of Persisting Complexity’ can be found here. 

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