Nine nuclear-weapon countries continue to modernize their nuclear weapons. In 2023, they spent a total of $91.4 billion on their arsenals. As noted by the International Campaign for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), headquartered in Geneva, figures indicate an increase in global nuclear weapons spending by $10.7 billion in 2023 compared to 2022. Moreover, 80% of this increase occurs in the United States. The US share of total spending was $51.5 billion, more than all other nuclear-armed countries combined.
โOver the past five years, there has been a marked upward trend in the amount of money devoted to the development of these most inhumane and destructive weapons,โ said Alicia, Policy and Research Coordinator at ICAN Sanders-Zakre.
The next largest spender is China at $11.8 billion, while Russia is third at $8.3 billion.
High alert state
According to Stockholm Estimates Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI, ed.), about 2,100 deployed ballistic missile warheads are in a state of high alert, and almost all of them belong to Russia or the United States. However, it is believed that this is the first time China has placed a certain number of warheads on high alert.
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According to SIPRI, Russia and the United States together possess almost 90% of all nuclear weapons. Their military stockpile sizes appear to have remained relatively stable in 2023. However, it is estimated that Russia has deployed approximately 36 more warheads to operational forces than in January 2023, SIPRI added.
“We have not 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.
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Let us remind you that in early February, China called on states with the largest nuclear arsenals to agree on an agreement โon the no-first use of nuclear weapons against each other.โ
Be aware that the White House has made multiple attempts to deny the Russian Federation these kinds of actions.
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