Global Nuclear Weapons Spending Increases 13%, Reaching Record $91.4 Billion in 2023 This is according to a report published by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
According to the organization's estimates, last year the nine nuclear powers invested USD 10.8 billion (13.4%) more in maintaining and modernizing their arsenals than in 2022. Total spending on nuclear weapons amounted to 91.4 billion USD, or 2,898 USD per second, according to ICAN data.
As noted, the U.S. remains the largest investor in nuclear weapons development, having allocated $51.5 billion. USD for it in 2023 (43.7 billion USD in 2022). In second place is China, whose spending on nuclear weapons rose to USD 11.9 billion last year (USD 11.7 billion in 2022). Russia is next with USD 8.3 billion (USD 9.6 billion in 2022).
According to ICAN, over the past five years, funding for nuclear weapons has increased by 34%, or $23.2 billion. During this period, US spending increased by 45%, UK spending by 43%, the organization emphasizes. Nuclear arsenal spending projected to exceed USD 100 billion in 2024.
Earlier, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institutepublished a report stating that as of January 2024, there were approximately 12,121 warheads, 9,585 of which are in a state of combat readiness. Almost all of the warheads belonged to the Russian Federation or the United States, but China is believed to have put some of them on high alert for the first time.
ICAN is a non-profit association established in 2007 in Melbourne, Australia. Its creation was initiated in September 2006 by the movement "Doctors of the World to Prevent Nuclear War", which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Currently, ICAN unites over 450 organizations in 101 countries. The headquarters of the association is located in Geneva. In 2017, ICAN received the Nobel Peace Prize "for drawing attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for the incredible efforts to achieve a treaty banning such weapons".