Pakistan and India are next - door neighbors that are armed to the teeth with nuclear warhead and becomingabsolutely infuriatedwith each other . What could possibly go wrong ?
With political tension between the two countriesstarting to reach a boiling point , a fresh study in the journalScience Advanceshas fructify out to look the potential cost of a nuclear war between Pakistan and India in the coming decennary . Not only would a nuclear clash directly lead in the deaths of millions of people , but it could also spark a full - tout global climate catastrophe and mass starvation , even if the war remain comparatively localized to South Asia .
These two res publica currently have a stockpile of approximately 140 to 150 warheads each , and that ’s set to expand to 200 to 250 by 2025 . This subject works on the assumption that Pakistan attacked urban mark in 2025 with 150 - kiloton nuclear weapon , while India drops 100 - kiloton nuclear weapons onto their neighbor ’s cities . For perspective , Little Boy , the nuclear bombdropped on Hiroshimain 1945 by the USA , was a 15 kiloton bomb calorimeter . Both India and Pakitan are densely populated , so these blast could result in the immediate death of 50 to 125 million people .
Using observations from theHiroshima dud , they estimatethat firestorms from the smoldering cities could release between 16 and 36 teragrams of crock into Earth ’s atmosphere . This could be enough to produce a “ Nuclear winter ” issue . The copiousness of black-market C and soot in the stratosphere would block out some direct sunshine from reaching the open of the Earth , result in the cooling of Earth ’s surface by 2 to 5 ° century . It would also bring down snow and rainfall by 15 to 30 per centum .
The drop in light and precipitant would take a heavy bell on the world ’s works , reducing the rate at which plants store vigor as biomass by 15 to 30 percentage on land and by 5 to 15 percent in ocean . As a result , globose solid food product would significantly slump , potentially enough to threaten mass starving .
give the size of it of the stakes , it ’s undecipherable how likely a nuclear war between the two south Asian state would be . India hashinted that they might abandontheir " no first use " policy when it get along to using atomic weapon system in light of recent tensions , whilePakistan has never follow any such policy . Pakistan has even suggested it ’s prepared to use nuclear weapon defensively in the event of a ground invasion .
It ’s deserving remember that this scenario is between two neighboring regions with a comparatively small armoury of atomic arm . The whole world has nearly14,000 atomic warheads spread between nine nations , many of whom have alliances and intensifying rivalries . To suppose the bigger picture , another written report released last calendar month detailed the possible effect of a nuclear war between the US and Russia , the two land that own the lion ’s share of nukes . Astheir consequence showed , the upshot would be even more dramatic .
