According to a study published in the journal Sustainability, conducted by the UK's Global Sustainability Institute at the University of Anglia Ruskin, New Zealand, Iceland, Australia, the UK, and Ireland are places that have the best chance of surviving the "global decline of society".

The analysis also indicated territories that would become "lifeboats" for humanity in the event of significant global warming – these are northern Canada, Russia, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and the British Isles.

The study found that human civilization was "in a dangerous state" due to an interconnected (networked) and planet-consuming society whose development had caused "environmental damage".

In order to assess which nations would be most resilient to these problems, countries were ranked according to their ability to: produce food for their own needs, protect borders against unwanted mass migration, and maintain their own electricity grid and certain production capacities.

Islands in temperate, predominantly sparsely populated regions top the ranking. New Zealand turned out to be the clear winner, which did not surprise the authors of the study quoted by The Guardian. The media has previously reported that billionaires are buying land there in order to build bunkers to enable them to survive a possible "apocalypse".

The study concluded that New Zealand has the greatest survival potential due to its geothermal and hydroelectric energy production, abundant agricultural land, and low population density.

(EURACTIV.pl)