Nournews: Global expenditures on nuclear weapons reached their highest level in history in 2025, revealing new signs of escalating military and strategic rivalry among the world's nuclear powers. According to a report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the nine nuclear-armed countries spent nearly $119 billion on maintaining, developing, and modernizing their nuclear arsenals—a figure representing an increase of approximately 19 percent compared to 2024.
Among nuclear powers, the United States accounted for the largest share of spending, allocating $56.2 billion and consuming nearly half of the world's total nuclear budget. China, with $13.5 billion, ranked second, while the United Kingdom, spending $12.6 billion, emerged as the third-largest spender on nuclear weapons.
Russia followed with $9.5 billion, France with $7.7 billion, India with $2.8 billion, Pakistan with $1.5 billion, and Israel with $1.2 billion. North Korea also devoted approximately $656 million to its nuclear program.
Alongside this significant rise in spending, figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicate that the global inventory of nuclear warheads reached 12,187 in 2026. These warheads are classified into three categories: deployed, stored, and retired.
Russia continues to possess the world's largest nuclear arsenal, with 5,420 nuclear warheads. Of these, 1,718 are operationally deployed, 2,591 are in storage, and 1,111 have been retired. The United States ranks second with 5,042 warheads, including 1,770 deployed, 1,930 stored, and 1,342 retired warheads.
China ranks third with 620 nuclear warheads, comprising 24 deployed and 596 stored warheads. It is followed by France with 290 warheads, the United Kingdom with 225, India with 180, Pakistan with 170, Israel with 90, and North Korea with 50.
An examination of these figures shows that although the total number of nuclear warheads worldwide has declined compared to the peak years of the Cold War, the ongoing transfer of warheads from storage to operational systems, coupled with extensive investments in arsenal modernization, has heightened concerns about the emergence of a new arms race. Experts believe that escalating geopolitical tensions, intensified great-power competition, and growing security uncertainties are among the primary drivers behind rising nuclear expenditures in recent years.
The unprecedented increase in nuclear spending and the continued modernization of atomic arsenals come at a time when the United States and several European countries, despite possessing thousands of nuclear warheads and investing tens of billions of dollars in the development of such weapons, continue to impose sanctions and political pressure aimed at restricting Iran's nuclear program. This approach, which many observers describe as a clear example of double standards in the international system, has faced widespread criticism. Critics argue that the very powers that maintain and expand the world's largest nuclear arsenals simultaneously seek to limit other nations' access to peaceful nuclear technology and energy. According to this view, such policies not only fail to enhance global security but also contribute to growing distrust, escalating international tensions, and the weakening of global efforts to control and reduce nuclear weapons.
Nournews