Hundreds of experts on international affairs believe World War III is inevitable and will likely start within the next 10 years.
A new survey of 357 political strategists and foresight practitioners weighed in on the future of humanity, with four in 10 saying a major war involving powerhouses like the US, China or Russia will explode in 2035.
By 2035, four in 10 global strategists (40.5%) predicted that a world war involving major nations like the United States, China, or Russia will break out.
The majority of those who believe WWIII is coming said that it would likely involve nuclear weapons and battles in outer space.
The most notable example pushing respondents to predict would likely be President Donald Trump establishing the US Space Force in 2019.
The new military branch notes on their website that, ‘The Space Force is responding, evolving, and presenting combat-ready capabilities in, from, and to space that allow the US and our allies to deter and, if necessary, defeat any potential threat to U.S. space capabilities.’
The second greatest threat to the world in 2035 would be climate change, according to three in 10 experts
Just 1.7 percent of respondents said a new pandemic would be the most concerning crisis impacting the global population, and only 5.1 percent think rising financial debt will cripple the world by 2035.
A new survey of 357 political strategists and foresight practitioners weighed in on the future of humanity, with four in 10 saying a major war involving powerhouses like the US, China or Russia will explode in 2035 (stock)
The new survey was conducted by the Atlantic Council, a global affairs think tank in Washington focused on international security and global economic prosperity.
The group analyzed current events, predicting how certain laws, regulations, military launches could predict the world of 2035.
Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday he was ‘gambling with World War III’ by continuing the war with Russia.
Over the next 10 years, the political strategists also predicted that the war would not end well for the Ukrainians, America’s economic and diplomatic dominance would decline, and global democracies would continue to recede, slipping into a ‘democratic depression.’
‘The grimmer forecasts were in keeping with a dark global outlook overall, with 62 percent of respondents expecting the world a decade from now to be worse off than it is today, and only 38 percent predicting that it will be better off,’ the The team at the Atlantic Council said.
Although the survey found a global nuclear war is a major concern for many, more experts still believe the world’s climate emergency is still the most pressing issue.
Three in 10 respondents (29.9%) ranked climate change as the single biggest threat to global prosperity between 2025 and 2035. That just beat out a war between major world powers (27.6%).
Currently, the overwhelming majority of studies agree that humans are the driving force behind global warming.
40 percent of global affairs experts in a new poll believe a nuclear war will break out by 2035, and that war would likely extend into space
Climate advocates have blamed the changing weather patterns for recent disasters, including increasing stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic and devastating wildfires in California.
While the group of specialists didn’t make any specific predictions about how climate change would devastate the planet, a majority (51%) believe there will be more global cooperation to stop the crisis by 2035.
As the world moves into the future, there’s a growing fear that robots will take more and more jobs away from everyday people.
Interestingly, the rise of advanced AI was widely viewed positively, with most experts not fearing a rise in job losses due to automation.
‘Not all the projections were pessimistic. Fifty-eight percent of those who participated in our Global Foresight 2025 survey, for example, felt that artificial intelligence would, on balance, have a positive impact on global affairs over the next ten years,’ the Atlantic Council said.
Three in 10 respondents (29.9%) ranked climate change as the single biggest threat to global prosperity between 2025 and 2035. That just beat out a war between major world powers (27.6%)
While AI may not replace everyone in most US offices, experts were still worried about America declining in terms of being the home of economic power and technological innovation.
Compared to the Atlantic Council’s 2024 Global Foresight survey, fewer respondents had faith the US would still be the world’s dominant economic power by 2035 – dropping from 52 to 49 percent.
The 357 experts in global affairs also warned of new global alliances over the next 10 years that may threaten the US and NATO.
Nearly half the poll (47.4%) believe China will lead a new alliance that officially connects them to Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
China, Russia, and Iran are already part of the intergovernmental organization known as BRICS, consisting of 10 nations.
The strategists fear BRICS this alliance may soon rival the Group of Seven (G7), consisting of the Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US.
As for the major players in this new coalition, the survey finds nearly 65 percent somewhat or strongly agree that China will attempt to invade Taiwan. That’s a 15-percent jump from last year’s survey.
Meanwhile, 45 percent of the experts see Russia engaging in a shooting war with NATO within the next decade.
‘Among respondents expecting another world war within the next decade, 69 percent anticipated a direct clash between Russia and NATO,’ the think tank revealed.
In 2025, there are nine countries that have access to nuclear weapons, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
That list includes the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea.
In the Middle East, the new survey paints a complex picture surrounding Israel and their current conflicts in the region.
A majority of the experts (62.5%) predict the situation with the Palestinians will remain the same over the next 10 years – with Israel still occupying Palestinian territories.
However, more than half the poll (56%) see Israel having normalized diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia by 2035.
Only 17 percent believe the world will see a sovereign, independent Palestinian state in the next decade, and less than 10 percent think Israel will achieve friendly relations with Iran by then.
