WikipediaExtracts:List of states with nuclear weapons
Extracted from Wikipedia --
Nine sovereign states are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, though only eight formally acknowledge possessing them. In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons, these are the United States, Russia (as successor to the former Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel (not formally acknowledged), India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
The first five of these are the nuclear-weapon states (NWS) as defined by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). They are also the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the only nations confirmed to possess thermonuclear weapons. Israel, India, and Pakistan never joined the NPT, while North Korea acceded in 1983 but announced its withdrawal in 2003.
Israel is widely understood to have nuclear weapons, with a medium-sized arsenal, but does not officially acknowledge it, maintaining a policy of deliberate ambiguity. One possible motivation for nuclear ambiguity is deterrence with minimum political friction.
States that formerly possessed nuclear weapons are South Africa, which developed nuclear weapons but then disassembled its arsenal before joining the NPT in 1991, and the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, whose weapons were transferred to Russia by 1996.
In addition, six states currently have foreign nuclear weapons based on their territory. United States weapons are deployed in Turkey, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium, while Russian weapons are deployed in Belarus. During the Cold War, NATO and Soviet nuclear weapons were deployed in at least 23 countries.
According to the Federation of American Scientists there are approximately 3,904 active nuclear warheads and 12,331 total nuclear warheads in the world as of 2025. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated in 2024 that the total number of nuclear warheads acquired by nuclear states reached 12,121. Approximately 9,585 are kept with military stockpiles. About 3,904 warheads are deployed with operational forces. 2,100 warheads, which are primarily from Russia and the United States, are maintained for high operational alerts.
