Lately, international headlines have been focused on potential armed conflicts in parts of the word, raising the question: is there truly any place left that’s safe?

According to experts, the answer is yes. But these safe places aren’t bunkers or shelters as many may assume.

Annie Jacobsen, an investigative journalist and author, argues that if things go south and nuclear war breaks out, there are two places considered safe — New Zealand and Australia.

In case you wonder why, Jacobsen explains that in case of a nuclear war, the countries in the Southern Hemisphere would remain the only places capable of supporting agricultural life.

“Places like Iowa and Ukraine would be just snow for 10 years. So agriculture would fail and when agriculture fails, people just die,” she said an interview with Steven Bartlett for The Diary of a CEO podcast.

“On top of that, you have the radiation poisoning because the ozone layer will be so damaged and destroyed that you can’t be outside in the sunlight.

“People will be forced to live underground. So you have to imagine people living underground, fighting for food everywhere except for in New Zealand and Australia.”

Further, Jacobsen cited a research from Professor Owen Toon in Nature Food. She stated, “Professor Toon and his team[…] sort of updated [the] nuclear winter idea based around food, and the number that they have is five billion people would be dead.”

According to experts, nuclear winter refers to the prolonged cooling after nuclear explosions ignite massive fires. This would lead to serious food shortages and hunger for people and animals alike.

Bartlett asked, “The population of the planet currently is what, eight billion?” and added: “So there’d be three billion people still alive. Where shall I go to be one of the three billion? I was just in New Zealand and Australia.”

Jacobsen replied: “That’s exactly where you’d go. According to Toon, those are the only places that could actually sustain agriculture.”

Also, Australia and New Zealand are geographically distant from the world’s major nuclear powers like US and Russia.