2026-08-29 · estimated warheads
Nine countries hold almost every warhead
Global stockpiles fell after the Cold War — but thousands remain deployed or stored.
Nine countries hold almost every nuclear warhead on Earth — and Russia and the United States control nearly nine in ten. The global stockpile is far below its Cold War peak, but the decline has slowed while military stockpiles grow again. This grid splits the world's roughly 12,000 estimated warheads in 2026: Russia 45%, the United States 42%, seven other states 13%.
1 cell = 12 estimated warheads (0.1% of global nuclear arsenal) · 1,000 cells
Context
The global inventory has fallen from a peak of roughly 70,300 warheads in 1986 to about 12,187 at the start of 2026, but most of that decline happened in the 1990s. Reductions now continue mainly because the United States and Russia are dismantling retired weapons — even as the number of warheads in military stockpiles, about 9,745, is rising again. Some 3,912 warheads are deployed with operational forces, and roughly 2,100 sit on high alert.
None of the seven smaller nuclear-armed states keeps more than a few hundred warheads: China leads with an estimated 620, followed by France (370), the United Kingdom (225), India (190), Pakistan (170), Israel (90), and North Korea (60). But China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom — possibly Russia too — are all thought to be growing their stockpiles, while France's and Israel's inventories are stable.
These figures are estimates, not official counts: most nuclear-armed states publish little or nothing about their arsenals. The United States and Russia stopped exchanging New START data in 2023, the United Kingdom ended stockpile disclosures in 2021, and France announced in early 2026 that it would stop publishing its figures. The estimates come from the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project.
FAS / SIPRI approximate shares, rounded.
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-08-29-nuclear-warheads