2026 Doomsday Clock Update 🕰️

Since 2012, the Doomsday Clock time has either shifted closer to midnight or stayed the same.

In 2012, the Clock was moved to 5 minutes to midnight.

In 2015, it was moved to 3 minutes.

In 2017, it was moved to 2 ½ minutes.

In 2018, it was moved to 2 minutes.

In 2020, it was moved to 100 seconds.

In 2023, it was moved to 90 seconds.

Last year, it was moved to 89 seconds.

Today, it was moved to 85 seconds to midnight.

Leading experts who study existential risks believe humanity is the closest it has ever been to global catastrophe.

In the Doomsday Clock statement, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board (SASB) releases side bars on each of the threats the Clock reflects—nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biological threats.

Across the board, excerpts from the SASB’s statement reflect a world that is failing to combat the most consequential threats humanity faces.

From the acceleration of a renewed nuclear arms race to the rise of nationalistic autocracies around the world, 2025 was an exceedingly dangerous year.

But what many don’t realize is that the Doomsday Clock can turn—and has turned—backwards. Eight times, to be exact.

Whether it does so again is up to humanity’s ability to learn from the past and to dedicate our time, effort, and resources to building a future where people can live free from the danger of existential threats.

In the Clock statement, the SASB notes that “national leaders–particularly those in the United States, Russia, and China–must take the lead in finding a path away from the brink” and that “citizens must insist they do so.”

Until that happens…

IT IS 85 SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT.

You can read the full statement on the Bulletin's website: https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2026-statement/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=YouTubePost01272026&utm_content=DoomsdayClock_Statement_01272026

Watch the full livestream on our channel.

Video Speakers:

Alexandra Bell, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, nuclear policy expert, and former diplomat

Steve Fetter, Bulletin Science and Security Board member and professor of public policy and former dean at the University of Maryland, fellow at the American Physical Society (APS), and member of the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC)

Inez Fung, Bulletin Science and Security Board member and professor emerita of atmospheric science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley

Asha M. George, Bulletin Science and Security Board member and executive director, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council

Jon B. Wolfsthal, Bulletin Science and Security Board member and director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)

Thumbnail Photograph: Jamie Christiani