Why is it in the news?

• A report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) revealed a $10.7 billion increase in global spending on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared to 2022.
• The United States accounted for 80% of this increase, with a total spending of $51.5 billion in 2023.

More about the news

• ICAN’s report highlighted that the total spending on nuclear arsenals by the nine nuclear-armed states amounted to $91.4 billion in 2023.
• The United States, China, and Russia were the top spenders, with the US alone contributing more than all other nuclear-armed countries combined.
• China spent $11.8 billion, and Russia spent $8.3 billion on their nuclear weapons programs in 2023.

Global Nuclear Weapons Landscape

• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the world’s nine nuclear-armed countries continued to modernize their nuclear weapons in 2023, deepening their reliance on nuclear deterrence.
• SIPRI stated that Russia and the USA together accounted for almost 90% of all nuclear weapons globally.
• While operational nuclear warheads have increased annually, SIPRI noted that China has also introduced warheads on high operational alert for the first time.
• Transparency around nuclear forces has decreased post-Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, sparking discussions on nuclear-sharing agreements between the US and Russia.
• SIPRI’s estimates indicated that India, Pakistan, and North Korea are striving to deploy multiple warheads on ballistic missiles, joining the US, Russia, France, UK, and China in this capability. This capacity allows for a rapid escalation in deployed warheads and the ability to threaten the destruction of more targets by nuclear-armed nations.