2026-09-20 · estimated warheads
Nine countries hold almost every warhead
Global stockpiles fell after the Cold War — but thousands remain deployed or stored.
Nuclear weapons could kill millions directly and, through their impact on agriculture, likely billions. Nine countries still hold roughly 12,000 warheads, and Russia and the United States alone control 87%. Stockpiles have fallen from a Cold War peak above 60,000, yet many warheads remain deployed on missiles or at bomber bases.
1 cell = 12 estimated warheads (0.1% of global nuclear arsenal) · 1,000 cells
Context
As of 2026, nine states possess nuclear weapons: Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. Russia holds 45% of the global arsenal and the United States 42%, with the other seven states together holding 13%.
Global arsenals peaked above 60,000 warheads in 1986 and fell below 20,000 in the 2010s; the decline has since slowed, with the total still above 10,000 and some countries expanding their arsenals. First-strike-capable weapons still deliver more than 2,500 megatons of explosive power — enough to directly destroy almost 7% of the world's urban land.
Nuclear weapons have been used in war only once, killing between 110,000 and 210,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and have since come close to being used more than a dozen times. North Korea is the only country to have tested one in recent decades. Most countries back treaties limiting tests and proliferation, and dozens have approved the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty.
SIPRI / FAS warhead estimates via Our World in Data, rounded.
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