The world now operates about 10,000 nuclear warheads
Roughly equal to more than 130,000 Hiroshima bombs
Growing concern over an accelerating nuclear arms race
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) estimates roughly 10,000 nuclear warheads are currently operational worldwide.
ICAN's report says the combined explosive power of those warheads is equivalent to about 135,000 atomic bombs the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima.
A steady increase since 2017
ICAN reported that global warhead totals have climbed steadily since 2017, with 141 added just last year. About 40% of all warheads are deployed on delivery systems — including silo-based ballistic missiles, mobile launchers, submarines, and bomber bases — while the remainder are held in reserve.
In addition to deployed stockpiles, the nine declared and undeclared nuclear powers hold roughly 2,500 weapons that are dismantled or awaiting dismantlement. China, India, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia are actively expanding their arsenals.
France and the United States also have modernization and expansion plans, which suggests global warhead totals will keep rising.
About 2,000 warheads by 2035
A Japanese assessment of China’s warhead production cycle projects Beijing could field roughly 2,000 warheads by 2035.
China is currently estimated to possess about 600 warheads. Analysts had expected Beijing to add on the order of 100 warheads a year and to exceed 1,000 by 2030.
But the Japanese report says Chinese authorities are extracting weapons-grade plutonium from two graphite reactors in Gansu and Sichuan provinces, and that annual production capacity could rise to about 200 warheads per year.
To date, only Russia and the United States have maintained four-digit warhead inventories. If China surpasses 1,000 warheads, it would become the third country with a four-digit stockpile.
Global concern over an arms race
The upward trend in warhead inventories has raised alarm internationally. The U.S.-Russia arms-control pact New START failed to secure an extension agreement, and China has shown limited interest in joining a new multilateral framework, intensifying great-power competition.
The United States has argued any new treaty should include other nuclear states such as China. Beijing counters that its arsenal remains far smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia and has signaled an intention to expand rather than reduce its forces.
Analysts warn that if the U.S., Russia and China accelerate build-ups, other nuclear-armed states could follow suit, triggering a cascading arms race.
