The world’s nine recognized nuclear powers spent a record $119 billion (103 billion euros) on atomic weaponry last year, representing a sharp 19% increase, according to a study released today.
The research was conducted by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of civil society organizations that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. The coalition emphasized that this spending fuels the “current dangerous geopolitical landscape,” in which the risk of nuclear weapons being used in conflicts is widely recognized as the highest since the end of the Cold War.
“It is inconceivable that these nine countries are spending billions on a false promise of security. Nuclear weapons cannot be used without causing a catastrophe,” warned Susi Snyder, ICAN’s program director and co-author of the study, following the report’s publication.
The United States once again led this expenditure, spending more than all other major powers combined: $69.2 billion (60 billion euros). According to ICAN, this amount would be sufficient to cover the current United Nations budget for 19 years, an organization that faces severe financial constraints.
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The United States also recorded the largest increase in spending at 22%, followed by Pakistan (18%) and the United Kingdom (17%). In second place in absolute terms was China, with nuclear weapons spending estimated at $13.5 billion (11.7 billion euros), followed by the United Kingdom, which, at $12.6 billion (10.9 billion euros), overtook Russia ($9.5 billion, or 8.2 billion euros) in 2025.
The remaining expenditures include France ($7.7 billion, or 6.7 billion euros), India ($2.8 billion, or 2.4 billion euros), Pakistan ($1.5 billion, or 1.3 billion euros), Israel ($1.2 billion, or 1 billion euros), and North Korea ($656 million, or 568 million euros), according to ICAN data.
The coalition promoting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons highlighted that the long-term outlook shows no signs of these expenses slowing down, with powers like the United States, France, and the United Kingdom committed to rearmament programs stretching, in some cases, into the 22nd century.
“The nine states plan to maintain and modernize their nuclear forces for decades, diverting billions of dollars from humanity’s real needs,” pointed out Alicia Sanders-Zakre, ICAN’s policy director and co-author of the report. The coalition calculated that, for example, the daily spending on nuclear arsenals could lift two million people out of food insecurity.
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The report also indicates that the private sector profited by at least $38 billion from nuclear weapons contracts, with the list of beneficiaries headed by U.S. companies Honeywell ($5.27 billion), Lockheed Martin ($4.509 billion), Fluor ($3.842 billion), and Northrop Grumman ($3.166 billion).
The list also features well-known multinationals from other sectors, such as the European consortium Airbus ($783 million in nuclear weapons-related revenue), American manufacturer Boeing ($635 million), and British company Rolls-Royce ($1.557 billion).
