Nine Nations Have Nukes — Here’s How Many Each Country Has: Amanda Macias
THANKS TO JAN POLLER…..
http://www.sipri.org/media/pressreleases/2014/nuclear_May_2014
According to a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), nine nations — the United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — possess approximately 16,300 nuclear weapons. in total.
Under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), Russia and the United States have reduced their inventories but still account for more than 93% of all operational nuclear warheads.
SIPRI notes that “all five legally recognized nuclear weapon states — China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA— are either deploying new nuclear weapon delivery systems or have announced programs to do so.”
Here are nine countries with nuclear weapons (and here is the full report):
(Stockholm, 16 June 2014) Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) today launches its annual nuclear forces data, which assesses the current trends and developments in world nuclear arsenals. The data shows that while the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world continues to decline, none of the nuclear weapon-possessing states are prepared to give up their nuclear arsenals for the foreseeable future.
At the start of 2014 nine states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea—possessed approximately 4000 operational nuclear weapons. If all nuclear warheads are counted, these states together possessed a total of approximately 16 300 nuclear weapons (see table 1) compared to 17 270 in early 2013.
Reductions slow and modernizations continue
Over the past five years there has been a steady decline in the overall number of nuclear warheads in the world (see table 2). The decrease is due mainly to Russia and the USA—which together still account for more than 93 per cent of all nuclear weapons—further reducing their inventories of strategic nuclear weapons under the terms of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START).
At the same time, all five legally recognized nuclear weapon states—China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA—are either deploying new nuclear weapon delivery systems or have announced programmes to do so. India and Pakistan continue to develop new systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons and are expanding their capacities to produce fissile material for military purposes.
There is an emerging consensus in the expert community that North Korea has produced a small number of nuclear weapons, as distinct from rudimentary nuclear explosive devices.
Table 1. World nuclear forces, 2014
Country Year of first
nuclear test Deployed warheads* Other warheads Total 2014
USA 1945 1920 5380 7300
Russia 1949 1600 6400 8000
UK 1952 160 65 225
France 1960 290 10 300
China 1964 250 250
India 1974 90–110 90–110
Pakistan 1998 100–120 100–120
Israel . . 80 80
North Korea 2006 6–8 6–8
Total 3970 12 350 16 300
Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2014
* ‘Deployed’ means warheads placed on missiles or located on bases with operational forces.
All estimates are approximate and are as of January 2014.
‘Once again this year, the nuclear weapon-possessing states took little action to indicate a genuine willingness to work toward complete dismantlement of their nuclear arsenals. The long term modernization programmes under way in these states suggest their views that nuclear weapons will remain deeply embedded elements of their strategic calculus,’ say SIPRI Researchers Shannon Kile and Phillip Patton Schell.
Table 2. World nuclear forces, 2010–14
Country* 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
USA 9600 8500 8000 7700 7300
Russia 12 000 11 000 10 000 8500 8000
UK 225 225 225 225 225
France 300 300 300 300 300
China 240 240 240 250 250
India 60–80 80–100 80–100 90–110 90–110
Pakistan 70–90 90–110 90–110 100–120 100–120
Israel 80 80 80 80 80
Total 22 600 20 530 19 000 17 270 16 300
Sources: SIPRI Yearbooks 2010–2014
* Based on public information about North Korea’s past plutonium production activities, it is estimated here that North Korea has built 6–8 nuclear weapons.
For editors
The SIPRI Yearbook is a compendium of cutting-edge information and analysis on developments in armaments, disarmament and international security. Three major Yearbook data sets were pre-launched earlier in 2014: the SIPRI Top 100 arms-producing companies (31 January), international arms transfers (17 March) and world military expenditure data (14 April). See the earlier releases at www.sipri.org/media/pressreleases.
SIPRI Yearbook 2014 is published by Oxford University Press and will be available later in 2014. Learn more at www.sipriyearbook.org.
For information and interview requests contact Stephanie Blenckner (blenckner@sipri.org, +46 8 655 97 47) or Emily Bloom (bloom@sipri.org, +46 8 655 97 97).
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