World teeters at 89 seconds to midnight

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic gauge of how close humanity is
to destroying the world, has edged to 89 seconds to midnight –
the closest the planet has ever been to that marker

Midnight: Represents
moment humanity
makes planet
uninhabitable

2025: Has moved one second to
show that every second of delay
in reversing course increases
probability of disaster

UPS AND DOWNS SINCE 1947 

Minutes to midnight
(doomsday hour)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

1949
1960
1963
1968
1969
1972
1974
1981
1980
1988
1990
1995
1998
2002
2010
2012

2015
1947:
Doomsday
Clock
introduced
Clock stands
at 7 minutes
to midnight

1953: U.S. and
Soviet Union
start testing
hydrogen
bombs

1984:
U.S.-Soviet
relations reach
lowest point
in decades

1991: Cold War
officially ends
U.S. and Russia cut
nuclear arsenals

2007: Risks from
climate change
included for
first time

2020: Nuclear,
climate and
political
inaction

2023:
Nuclear risk
in Ukraine
90 seconds

Sources: CNN, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Picture: erika8213/Newscom
© GRAPHIC NEWS