The number of nuclear weapons among the major world powers is increasing

According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Studies Institute (SIPRI), the number of operational nuclear weapons has increased by 2023, compared to previous years. The major world powers continue to modernize their arsenalsthe vast majority to Russia and the United States.

After analyzing the total inventory of 12,121 nuclear warheads estimated in January last year, it was determined that 9,585 of them were in military arsenals for possible use. As noted by SIPRI “almost all” belonged to Russia or the United Statesdespite the fact that China also has a large number of them: “For the first time, it is believed that China may have some nuclear warheads in a state of maximum operational alert.”

“While the total number of nuclear warheads worldwide continues to decline (…), we unfortunately continue to see an annual increase in the number of operational warheads. This trend is likely to continue and accelerate in the coming years, which is very worrying.” the study states.

As we mentioned earlier, United States and Russia They are the powers that have the vast majority of nuclear weapons, almost 90% of the total. Despite this, the size of its arsenals remained stable in 2023, although it is believed that Russia could have deployed an additional 36 nuclear warheads with operational power. However, SIPRI believes that there is no “convincing visual evidence” that Russia has deployed nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

For its part, China also increased its nuclear arsenal from 410 to 500 warheads between January 2023 and 2024, which will continue to increase during the year.

This is expected to happen by the end of this decade China have at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the United States or Russia, since the Asian country does expanding its nuclear arsenal “faster than any other country”.