The nine nuclear powers of the world continue to modernise their nuclear weapons. In 2023, they spent $91.4 billion on their arsenals.
Points of attention
- The US has allocated the largest share of funds for nuclear weapons, at $51.5 billion, more than all other nuclear nations combined.
- China and Russia have also spent heavily on their nuclear arsenals, with China planning to increase the number of warheads to 1,000 by 2030.
- Russia and the United States possess almost 90% of all nuclear weapons, but the amount of money spent on the development of these means of destruction grows every year.
Nuclear powers have increased spending on their arsenal
According to the Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the figures show a $10.7 billion increase in global expenditure on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared to 2022.
Moreover, 80% of this increase is accounted for by the USA.
The U.S. share of the total cost was $51.5 billion, more than all other nuclear nations combined.
Over the past five years, there has been a marked upward trend in the amount of money allocated to the development of this most inhumane and destructive weapon, said Alicia Sanders-Zackre, Policy and Research Coordinator at ICAN.
China is next in terms of the volume of such expenses—$11.8 billion—and Russia ranks third with $8.3 billion.
According to SIPRI, Russia and the United States together possess almost 90% of all nuclear weapons. Their stockpiles appear to have remained relatively stable in 2023. However, according to estimates, Russia has deployed about 36 warheads more operational forces than in January 2023, SIPRI added.
"We haven't seen nuclear weapons play such an important role in international relations since the Cold War," said Wilfred Wang, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's program on weapons of mass destruction.
NATO is discussing putting nuclear weapons on alert because of the threat from Russia and China
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc should show the world its nuclear arsenal to send a direct message to its enemies.
He said there had been consultations among alliance members about removing missiles from storage and putting them on standby, calling for transparency as a deterrent.
He noted that the goal of NATO is a world without nuclear weapons. Still, as long as there are nuclear weapons, we must remain a nuclear alliance because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons and NATO does not is dangerous.
He warned that China, in particular, was investing heavily in modern weapons, including its nuclear arsenal, which he said would grow to 1,000 warheads as early as 2030.
