Scientists at Rutgers University (New Jersey) have found out which countries have a better chance to cope with the consequences of a hypothetical nuclear war, the journal Nature Food writes.

As the experts found out, in the case of dropping nuclear warheads on major cities and industrial centers of different countries will begin firestorms, and the atmosphere in the world will be polluted due to emissions of combustion particles. The consequences would be climate change and reduced food supplies on land and in the oceans.

If more than 150 teragrams (more than 165 million tons) of soot were released into the atmosphere, grain consumption would fall by about 90% in three to four years after the apocalypse, the research states, Izvestia writes.

The scientists predict that Australia and Argentina will be able to maintain the optimal number of kilocalories per capita per day, even if the greatest amount of soot is emitted into the atmosphere.

The article also pointed out that another such place could be New Zealand, but it risks facing a large number of refugees from Asia and other countries where the food situation will be critical.

According to scientists' calculations, in the event of a hypothetical full-scale nuclear war between Russia and the United States, the Earth's population could be reduced by five billion people, and the planet itself would be covered by a nuclear winter.