GlobalMilitary.net Open-source military intelligence Updated daily
Nuclear Forces

World nuclear forces

Nine states hold an estimated 12,187 nuclear warheads; six more host weapons they do not own. Who has what, where it is going, and how the numbers are known.

The nine nuclear powers

Estimated arsenals, 2026Total inventory
#CountryWarheadsDeployedDelivery
1 🇷🇺 Russia 5,420 1,796 Air Sea Land
2 🇺🇸 United States 5,042 1,770 Air Sea Land
3 🇨🇳 China 620 34 Air Sea Land
4 🇫🇷 France 370 280 Air Sea
5 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 225 120 Sea
6 🇮🇳 India 190 — Air Sea Land
7 🇵🇰 Pakistan 170 — Air Land
8 🇮🇱 Israel 90 — Air Sea Land
9 🇰🇵 North Korea 60 — Sea Land
Estimates: Federation of American Scientists, early 2026. Israel has never confirmed its arsenal. Full ranking
The nuclear map
United States — nuclear power Russia — nuclear power China — nuclear power France — nuclear power United Kingdom — nuclear power India — nuclear power Pakistan — nuclear power Israel — undeclared nuclear power North Korea — nuclear power Belgium — hosts US nuclear weapons Germany — hosts US nuclear weapons Italy — hosts US nuclear weapons Netherlands — hosts US nuclear weapons Turkey — hosts US nuclear weapons Belarus — hosts Russian nuclear weapons Iran — threshold nuclear program South Africa — disarmed in 1991
Nuclear powers Hosting states Threshold Disarmed
Each highlighted country links to its nuclear forces page.

Global stockpile since 1945

World military stockpile1945–2026
1945 — 2 warheads 1945 1946 — 9 warheads 1947 — 13 warheads 1948 — 50 warheads 1949 — 171 warheads 1950 — 304 warheads 1951 — 463 warheads 1952 — 891 warheads 1953 — 1,290 warheads 1954 — 1,858 warheads 1955 — 2,632 warheads 1956 — 4,168 warheads 1956 1957 — 6,261 warheads 1958 — 8,268 warheads 1959 — 13,424 warheads 1960 — 20,370 warheads 1961 — 24,876 warheads 1962 — 29,097 warheads 1963 — 32,648 warheads 1964 — 34,981 warheads 1965 — 37,591 warheads 1966 — 38,603 warheads 1967 — 40,073 warheads 1967 1968 — 39,443 warheads 1969 — 38,621 warheads 1970 — 38,238 warheads 1971 — 39,677 warheads 1972 — 41,752 warheads 1973 — 44,494 warheads 1974 — 46,655 warheads 1975 — 47,642 warheads 1976 — 48,993 warheads 1977 — 50,755 warheads 1978 — 51,538 warheads 1978 1979 — 53,355 warheads 1980 — 55,755 warheads 1981 — 56,371 warheads 1982 — 57,285 warheads 1983 — 59,353 warheads 1984 — 61,177 warheads 1985 — 62,927 warheads 1986 — 64,452 warheads 64,452 1987 — 62,729 warheads 1988 — 60,785 warheads 1989 — 58,342 warheads 1989 1990 — 55,512 warheads 1991 — 49,342 warheads 1992 — 41,524 warheads 1993 — 36,983 warheads 1994 — 33,374 warheads 1995 — 30,114 warheads 1996 — 27,904 warheads 1997 — 27,296 warheads 1998 — 26,095 warheads 1999 — 24,881 warheads 2000 — 23,846 warheads 2000 2001 — 22,655 warheads 2002 — 21,561 warheads 2003 — 20,106 warheads 2004 — 17,624 warheads 2005 — 16,387 warheads 2006 — 15,499 warheads 2007 — 13,015 warheads 2008 — 12,192 warheads 2009 — 11,655 warheads 2010 — 11,296 warheads 2011 — 10,790 warheads 2011 2012 — 10,686 warheads 2013 — 10,524 warheads 2014 — 10,392 warheads 2015 — 10,176 warheads 2016 — 9,628 warheads 2017 — 9,272 warheads 2018 — 9,320 warheads 2019 — 9,335 warheads 2020 — 9,340 warheads 2021 — 9,528 warheads 2022 — 9,590 warheads 2022 2023 — 9,616 warheads 2024 — 9,585 warheads 2025 — 9,614 warheads 2026 — 9,745 warheads 9,745
Peak: ~64,000 warheads in 1986. Stockpiles exclude retired warheads awaiting dismantlement. Data: FAS Nuclear Notebook series, processed by Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0).

Hosting states

Foreign warheads on national soil
CountryOwnerEst. warheadsArrangement
🇧🇾 Belarus Russia unconfirmed Russian basing since 2023
🇧🇪 Belgium United States 15 NATO nuclear sharing
🇩🇪 Germany United States 15 NATO nuclear sharing
🇮🇹 Italy United States 35 NATO nuclear sharing
🇳🇱 Netherlands United States 15 NATO nuclear sharing
🇹🇷 Turkey United States 20 NATO nuclear sharing
The hosted weapons stay in the owner's custody and count in its totals, not the host's. How sharing works

How to read the numbers

No nuclear-armed state publishes a current count of its weapons, so every figure on these pages is an estimate — and the estimates differ depending on what is being counted. The military stockpile is the set of warheads available to the armed forces, whether mounted on missiles or held in storage. The total inventory adds retired warheads that still exist but sit in a queue for dismantlement — the United States and Russia each hold more than a thousand of these. Deployed warheads are the subset actually sitting on missiles or at bomber bases, ready for use on short notice.

The figures here follow the estimates of the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Notebook and the SIPRI Yearbook, the two reference open sources, and the historical series is the FAS dataset published through Our World in Data under a CC BY license. Numbers for Russia, China, and especially North Korea carry real uncertainty; the databases update as the estimates do. Since the expiry of New START in February 2026 there is no longer any treaty-based verification of US and Russian strategic forces, which will widen the error bars over time.

Understand the nuclear order

Nuclear sharing & hosting

Five NATO countries host US B61 bombs their own aircraft would deliver; Belarus hosts Russian warheads under a mirror arrangement. Who hosts what, at which bases, and who decides.

Sharing explained
Treaties & arms control

The NPT froze the nuclear club in 1968; the last US-Russian ceiling expired in February 2026. What each treaty does, who is in, who never joined.

Treaty status
Blast simulator

Map the blast rings of 9 arsenals' real weapons — from tactical yields to the Tsar Bomba — over any city on Earth.

Open the simulator

Latest nuclear coverage

All news →
Estimates: Federation of American Scientists, SIPRI Yearbook; historical series via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Suggest a change

Frequently Asked Questions

How many nuclear weapons are there in the world?

As of early 2026, the nine nuclear-armed states hold an estimated 12,187 nuclear warheads. About 9,745 of them form the military stockpiles available to the armed forces; the remainder are retired warheads awaiting dismantlement. Roughly 4,000 warheads are actually deployed on missiles, submarines and bomber bases.

Which countries have nuclear weapons?

Nine states possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China (the five NPT nuclear-weapon states), plus India, Pakistan and North Korea, and Israel, which has never confirmed its arsenal. Six more countries host foreign warheads without owning them: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey store US bombs under NATO nuclear sharing, and Belarus hosts Russian warheads.

Which country has the most nuclear weapons?

Russia, with an estimated 5,420 warheads in its total inventory, ahead of the United States with about 5,042. Together they hold nearly 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. China follows with roughly 620 and is expanding its arsenal faster than any other state.

Are these numbers exact?

No — they are estimates. Only the US and UK have ever published official stockpile figures, and no state discloses current numbers precisely. The figures here follow the estimates of the Federation of American Scientists and SIPRI, which reconstruct arsenals from official statements, treaty data, satellite imagery and open sources. They are the reference numbers used by governments and media worldwide.

Has the number of nuclear weapons gone up or down?

Global stockpiles peaked around 64,000 warheads in 1986 and have fallen by roughly 85% since, driven by US-Russian arms-control treaties. That decline has now essentially stopped: reductions of retired US and Russian warheads are offset by growing arsenals in China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, and the last US-Russian treaty limiting deployed weapons expired in February 2026.

Related Pages
Nuclear arsenals ranking Nuclear sharing and hosting Nuclear treaties Blast simulator