The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security.
The nine nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023.
They are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel.
There was a total global inventory of an estimated 12,121 warheads in January 2024, about 9585 of which were in military stockpiles for potential use.
Russia and the USA together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons.
China’s nuclear arsenal increased from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024.