The Countries Expanding Their Nuclear Arsenal

Released today, the latest figures from SIPRI reveal an annual increase in the global number of stockpiled nuclear warheads. As this infographic shows, China is at the forefront of this upwards tick, adding an estimated 60 weapons to its collection of deployed or stored nukes between January 2022 and January 2023.

As detailed by SIPRI, "China is in the middle of a significant modernization and expansion of its nuclear arsenal. Its nuclear stockpile is expected to continue growing over the coming decade and some projections suggest that it will deploy at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as either Russia or the USA in that period. However, China’s overall nuclear warhead stockpile is still expected to remain smaller than that of either of those states."

Despite China's stockpile growth, Russia and the United States still have by far the largest amount. A hangover of the Cold War, the two countries have a combined arsenal of more than 8,000 warheads. Including those retired and earmarked for dismantlement, the figure rises to over 11,000.