The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported that the downward trend in global nuclear weapons stockpiles "is likely to reverse in the coming years."
"Nearly all nine nuclear-armed states in the world are modernizing and upgrading existing weapons and adding new ones," the institute said in its annual report on the world's arsenals.
"The era of global nuclear arms reductions, which has continued since the end of the Cold War, is coming to an end," said SIPRI analyst Hans M. Kristensen. "Instead, we see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, escalating nuclear rhetoric, and abandoning arms control agreements."
The institute said that the dismantling of nuclear warheads retired by the United States and Russia since the end of the Cold War has led to a significant reduction, but this effect is now slowing, while the deployment of new nuclear weapons is accelerating.
He pointed out that "the United States and Russia possess approximately 90% of all nuclear weapons, and that both are implementing extensive modernization programs that could increase the size and diversity of their nuclear arsenals in the future."
The nine countries – the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel – currently possess a combined stockpile of 12,241 warheads, down from 12,405 last year, according to SIPRI figures, which are estimates.
The institute added, "The total number of deployed warheads is much lower, at 3,912. The United States has 1,770, Russia 1,718, France 280, the United Kingdom 120, and China 24."
