Toronto Sun

Most young people think nuclear weapons should be banned, even though many are unaware of their own country's nuclear capabilities, a new survey shows.

The survey - conducted by the Buddhist peace organization Soka Gakkai International - interviewed 4,362 people, from teenagers to people in their 30s, in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, the U.S. and the U.K.

When asked to identify cases where the use of nuclear weapons is appropriate, 67.3% of respondents said under no circumstances, 17.5% said as a last resort if the country's survival is at stake, and 6.1% said to prevent international terrorism or genocide.

As well, 59.1% said they would feel safer if nuclear weapons were abolished and 59.6% said the presence of nuclear weapons doesn't contribute to global peace and stability.

"This is encouraging for us. Building on the widespread rejection of nuclear weapons by youth is key to efforts toward their abolition," said Soka Gakkai student group leader Takahisa Miya.

But despite their hard anti-nuke stance, many respondents displayed an ignorance about which countries possess nuclear weapons.

For example, only 43.2% of U.K. respondents knew their country possesses nukes, and 59.2% of Americans surveyed knew the U.S. has them.

Only 14.6% of respondents were aware of Pakistan's nuclear capabilities and only 19.6% knew of India's.

The respondents also showed little optimism their anti-nuclear stance would ever be realized. Only 37.4% believe abolition is possible.

However, 40.7% believe reduction is possible, and a mere 9.4% believe neither are possible.