Nuclear-armed nations are deepening their reliance on their nuclear weapons, watchdog finds

Swedish think tank reports nuclear-armed countries modernizing weapons, spending $91.4 billion in 2023, raising global security concerns.

The world's nine nuclear-armed countries continue to modernise their nuclear weapons as they deepened their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said on June 17.

“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” said Wilfred Wan, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's weapons of mass destruction programme.

Earlier this month, Russia and its ally Belarus launched a second stage of drills intended to train their troops in tactical nuclear weapons, part of the Kremlin's efforts to discourage the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.

In a separate report, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, said the nine nuclear-armed states spent a combined total of $91.4 billion on their arsenals in 2023 – equivalent to $2,898 per second. The Geneva-based coalition of disarmament activists won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

The group said that figures show a $10.7 billion increase in global spending on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared to 2022, with the United States accounting for 80% of that increase. The U.S.’ share of total spending — $51.5 billion — is more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together.

“There has been a notable upward trend in the amount of money devoted to developing these most inhumane and destructive of weapons over the past five years,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, Policy and Research Coordinator with ICAN.

The next biggest spender was China at $11.8 billion, she said, with Russia spending the third largest amount at $8.3 billion. “All this money is not improving global security, in fact it's threatening people wherever they live,” Ms. Sanders-Zakre said.