Stockpile meaning3/30/2023 ![]() Despite limitations, however, publicly available information, careful analysis of historical records, and occasional leaks make it possible to make best estimates about the size and composition of the national nuclear weapon stockpiles. Fortunately, in 2020, the Biden administration restored nuclear transparency – a victory for nuclear accountability in a democratic country. Between 20, the United disclosed its total stockpile size, but in 2019 the Trump administration stopped that practice. Yet the degree of secrecy varies considerably from country to country. Most nuclear-armed states provide essentially no information about the sizes of their nuclear stockpiles. The exact number of nuclear weapons in each country’s possession is a closely held national secret, so the estimates presented here come with significant uncertainty. ![]() But China, India, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, as well as possibly Russia, are all thought to be increasing their stockpiles (see map): ![]() France and Israel have relatively stable inventories. The United States is still reducing its nuclear stockpile slowly. In contrast to the overall inventory of nuclear weapons, the number of warheads in global military stockpiles––which comprises warheads assigned to operational forces––is increasing once again. Moreover, these reductions are happening only because the United States and Russia are still dismantling previously retired warheads. Globally, the overall inventory of nuclear weapons is declining, but the pace of reductions is slowing compared with the past 30 years. Despite progress in reducing nuclear weapon arsenals since the Cold War, the world’s combined inventory of nuclear warheads remains at a very high level: nine countries possessed roughly 12,700 warheads as of early-2022.Īpproximately 90 percent of all nuclear warheads are owned by Russia and the United States, who each have around 4,000 warheads in their military stockpiles no other nuclear-armed state sees a need for more than a few hundred nuclear weapons for national security.
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