Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles In The World
US Minuteman III missile inside a silo, near Grand Forks Air Force Base. Each missile carries up to three nuclear warheads (image: US Military)
The list below features all nations who own stockpiles of Nuclear weapons around the World. Whilst this list concerns only the nations who own the stockpiles, sometimes nations could have some of their warheads deployed in other nations under ‘nuclear sharing’ deals – most notably, the United States, who have nuclear weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey (150-200 nuclear warheads in total).
The World’s overall nuclear arsenal is held by a handful of states, however the vast majority of those bombs have always been owned by Russia and the United States alone. Between them, they have 20 times as many nuclear weapons, as the rest of the World, combined. They could both easily destroy the entire planet – in a matter of seconds – many times over.
The following list is included, on a yearly basis, as part of the SIPRI Yearbook, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) – a publication which outlines data and analysis in the areas of national security, conflicts, military spending, armaments, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament.
World Countries With Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles
| Country | Deployed warhead [1] | Other warheads [1] | Total Inventory [1] |
| USA | ~2 100 | 5 200 | ~7 300 |
| Russia | ~1 600 | ~6 400 | ~8 000 |
| UK | 160 | ~65 | ~225 |
| France | ~290 | ~10 | ~300 |
| China | . . | ~250 | ~250 |
| India | . . | 90–110 | 90–110 |
| Pakistan | . . | 100–120 | 100–120 |
| Israel | . . | ~80 | ~80 |
| North Korea | . . | . . | 6–8 |
| Total | ~4 150 | ~12 200 | ~16 350 |
World Countries Which Borrow Nuclear Weapons From Other Countries
| Country | Borrowed from | Nuclear Weapons [2] | Comments |
| Belgium | United States | 10-20 | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal |
| Germany | United States | 10-20 | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal |
| Italy | United States | 70-90 | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal |
| Netherlands | United States | 10-20 | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal |
| Turkey | United States | 50 | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal |
| Previously: | |||
| Canada | United States | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal until 1984 | |
| Greece | United States | NATO-backed ‘Nuclear Sharing’ deal until 2001 |
[1] All estimates are approximate and are as of January 2014, using the latest available data, and featured in the SIPRI 2014 Yearbook. The specific section which includes the data below can be found here.
[2] “Status of U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe 2010” by Hans M. Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists, 2010. This is the most recent version of this data available.
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