The Countries Holding The World's Nuclear Arsenal

The first time a nuclear weapon was used in war was August 6, 1945, when the United States detonated an atomic bomb above Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the U.S. detonated a second nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. By year’s end, an estimated 214,000 people had been killed, the majority of whom were civilians. In the following years, many of the survivors faced leukemia, cancer and other effects from the radiation.

While these were the first - and so far only - uses of nuclear weapons in war, it's 80 years on and the production, deployment and stockpiling of them hasn’t stopped. Currently, there are estimated to be 9,614 nuclear warheads in military stockpiles for potential use across nine countries, with Russia and the U.S. accounting for 8,009 of these. There are also an estimated 2,627 retired warheads that are yet to be dismantled.

As the following chart shows, China has added 100 nuclear warheads to its arsenal since January 2024, increasing from 500 warheads to 600. This is according to data from the peace research institute SIPRI. India has also expanded its arsenal with eight new warheads, bringing the country’s total figures to an estimated 180 of the weapons.

The two European nuclear powers, France and the UK, together have 515 operational nuclear warheads. With the exception of North Korea, none of the nations in possession of nuclear warheads have tested them since the 1990s.