Nuclear weapons spending surges to record high of $119bn, report says

Global spending on nuclear weapons last year rose to an all-time high of $119bn, according to a report by nonproliferation advocates.

The world’s nine nuclear-armed countries spent an additional $16.8bn on their arsenals in 2025 compared with the previous year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said in its latest report released on Tuesday.

The United States spent an estimated $69.2bn, a rise of $12.6bn, and more than all other nuclear powers combined, ICAN said.

China was the second-biggest spender, with an estimated $13.5bn, followed by the United Kingdom with $12.6bn, Russia with $9.5bn and France with $7.7bn, according to ICAN.

India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea spent sums ranging from $656m (by Pyongyang) to $2.8bn (by New Delhi).

ICAN said nuclear-armed states spent a combined $471bn over the past five years, with all of them planning to retain their arsenals for decades more.

“This exorbitant spending comes at a time when countries are significantly scaling back their investments in the global commons,” ICAN said in a summary accompanying the report.

“Whether reneging from climate change adaptation agreements or failing to pay their fair share to prevent the scourge of war through multilateral diplomacy, this overwhelming spending on nuclear weapons shows a willingness to research, develop, finance and build tools to exterminate humanity instead of save it.”

The report comes just a day after the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warned that nuclear states were “sidelining” and “walking away from” nuclear disarmament commitments in favour of modernising and enhancing their arsenals.

The nine nuclear-armed states are estimated to possess more than 12,000 warheads between them, with the vast majority held by the US and Russia.

In 2017, the United Nations adopted the first legally-binding global treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.

Ninety-nine countries have signed, ratified or acceded to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which bars states from developing, testing, or acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

No country with nuclear weapons has signed the treaty.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the US and Russia signed a series of treaties to limit the size of their arsenals, but the last of these, New START, expired in February without any succeeding agreement.