The world’s nine nuclear-armed states modernized their nuclear weapons and deepened their reliance on deterrence in 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This trend, highlighted by a significant increase in nuclear spending, has raised concerns about global security.
“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” stated Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI’s weapons of mass destruction program.
A separate report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) revealed a staggering $91.4 billion spent by the nine nuclear-armed states on their arsenals in 2023. This amounts to a staggering $2,898 spent every second.
The Geneva-based coalition of disarmament activists, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, highlighted a $10.7 billion increase in global spending on nuclear weapons compared to 2022. The United States, responsible for 80% of the increased investment, spent a staggering $51.5 billion, exceeding the combined spending of all other nuclear-armed nations. China followed with $11.8 billion, and Russia rounded out the top three with $8.3 billion.
“There has been a notable upward trend in the amount of money devoted to developing these most inhumane and destructive of weapons over the past five years. All this money is not improving global security; in fact, it’s threatening people wherever they live,” expressed Alicia Sanders-Zakre, Policy and Research Coordinator with ICAN.
The SIPRI report, reflecting a global shift towards nuclear modernization, has prompted concerns about the implications for global security and the potential for increased nuclear tensions.
