Majority Of Millennials Worried About Nuclear Attack In Next 10 Years, Survey Suggests

The majority of world millennials (54%) asked for their views on conflict have said they believe a nuclear attack in the next 10 years is more likely than not.

Nearly half of UK 20 to 35-year-olds questioned (49%), meanwhile, say they believe there will be a third world war in their lifetime.

The findings are part of a survey carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which gathered views from millennials in 16 countries.

Respondents came from a diverse range of backgrounds, lifestyles and experiences of conflict - the UK, USA, Afghanistan, as well as the occupied Palestinian territories and Syria.

"The motivation to doing the survey was really to understand what the next generation of leaders, fighters, policy makers, military leaders as well, think about some of the issues that they were polled on," Daniel Littlejohn-Carillo, Deputy Head of Resource Mobilisation at the ICRC, told Forces News.

Overall, the findings indicate anxiety about an uncertain future.

Mr Littlejohn added: "Given the context, the discussions in the past few years, the international tensions that we see succeeding each other, it's perhaps not surprising that people feel concerned and feel uncertainty about the future.

"The fact that it's not surprising, however, doesn't necessarily mean that it's not something that we should be very concerned about."

Eight in 10 believe armed conflict can be avoided, while around 75% think that restrictions must be imposed on how wars are fought.

The survey also showed how the experience of war makes people hate the prospect of further conflict.

Of people surveyed in Syria, 98% say it is never acceptable to use nuclear weapons, 96% said the same for chemical and biological weapons, and 85% say enemy fighters should be permitted to keep in touch with their relatives.

Those figures are the highest percentages of the survey's 16 countries.

People in countries torn apart by conflict are more likely to think there will be fewer or no future wars, in comparison to those from countries at peace - 46% versus 30%. 

Other concerns of millennials surveyed were corruption, terrorism and the use of torture.