World Nuclear Stockpile Report

The exact number of nuclear weapons in global arsenals is not known; each country guards these numbers as closely held national secrets. Experts and several governments have proposed a global inventory of all weapons and stockpiles of weapons materials as a necessary first step towards securing weapons from theft or diversion and towards the eventual elimination of these weapons.

What is known, however, is that more than a decade and a half after the Cold War ended, the world's combined stockpile of nuclear warheads remain at unacceptably high levels. Of the more than 23,300 in the best expert estimates, more than 8,190 warheads are considered operational, of which approximately 2,200 U.S. and Russian warheads are on high alert, ready for use on short notice.

These estimates are compiled and maintained by Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists and Robert Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council (both with support from Ploughshares Fund) and are based on publicly available information and occasional leaks.

Status of World Nuclear Forces 2009*
Country	Strategic	Non-Strategic	Total Operational	Total Inventory	Full Report
Russia	2,600	2,050	4,650	12,0001
United States	2,126	500	2,626	9,4002
France	300	n.a.	~300	300
China	180	?	~180	240
United Kingdom	160	n.a.	<160	18
Israel	80	n.a.	n.a.	80
Pakistan	70-90	n.a.	n.a.	70-90
India	60-80	n.a.	n.a.	60-80
North Korea	<10	n.a.	n.a.	<103
TOTALS	5,600	2,550	7,900	23,300

^* Numbers may not add up due to rounding and uncertainty about the operational status of the four lesser nuclear weapons states and the uncertainty about the size of the total inventories of three of the five initial nuclear powers.

1 Russia's estimated total inventory of non-strategic warheads is approximately 5,390 warheads, down from 15,000 in 1991.

² The estimate for the size and composition of the total Russian inventory comes with considerable uncertainty but is based on Cold War levels, subsequent dismantlement rates, and official Russian statements. Perhaps as many as a quarter (~3,000) of the weapons listed may be awaiting dismantlement. An estimated average of 1,000 retired warheads are dismantled per year.

³ Despite two North Korean nuclear tests, there is no publicly available evidence that North Korea has operationalized its nuclear weapons capability. A 2009 world survey by the U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) does not credit any of North Korea's ballistic missiles with nuclear capability.

All numbers are estimates and are further described in the Nuclear Notebook in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and the nuclear appendix in the SIPRI Yearbook.  (The "Full Reports" referenced in the table above are the most recent country-specific analyses published in the Bulletin.)  Unlike those publications, this table is updated continuously as new information becomes available. Additional reports are published on the FAS Strategic Security Blog, where this table originally appeared. 

For more information, please contact Hans Kristensen (202-454-4695) or Stan Norris (202-289-2369).

Current update: January 12, 2010