The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), based in Sweden, has released its “SIPRI Yearbook 2024” highlighting key global nuclear trends.
Key Highlights:
- The report notes that nine nuclear-armed states—the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel—continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals in 2023.
- As of January 2024, the total global inventory of nuclear warheads was 12,121, with 90% of these primarily held by Russia and the US, and about 9,585 warheads available for potential use.
- There has been an increase in the number of operational nuclear warheads, with India, Pakistan, and North Korea advancing in deploying multiple warheads on ballistic missiles.
- China expanded its nuclear arsenal to 500 warheads, while India increased its arsenal to 172 in 2023, surpassing Pakistan’s for the first time.
- India and Israel have primarily utilized plutonium as fissile material, whereas Pakistan has used Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU).
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