Amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Putin has ordered the country's nuclear dissident forces to be placed on alert.
The total inventory of nuclear weapons at the global level amounts to 12,700 warheads or nuclear warheads, distributed among a few nations. Russia and the United States stand out especially, accounting for 90%.
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Russia 's invasion of Ukraine and Putin 's order to put the nuclear dissident forces on alert have returned focus to the situation of nuclear weapons in the world and the different arsenals that each country has.
Several experts consulted by Business Insider consider a nuclear attack unlikely, but not entirely implausible.
"I hope it doesn't get worse, and I think there's a good chance it won't, but the risk is real whenever nuclear weapon states come into conflict with each other," Dr. Tara Drozdenko, director of nuclear weapons, told Business Insider . the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program.
"Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons, so the risk of nuclear war in this scenario is if the conflict somehow escalates to engulf NATO countries or the United States," he adds.
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On the world stage, the total inventory of nuclear weapons amounts to 12,700 warheads (nuclear warheads) at the beginning of 2022, according to the Federation of American Scientists ( FAS ), concentrated in 9 countries .
In 2019, according to a report by SIPRI (Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies), the presence of 13,865 nuclear weapons worldwide was estimated, that is, 1,165 more than this year (which in turn included 600 fewer than in 2018). What has not changed is the leading role of 2 countries: both then and now, 90% of the global amount remains in the hands of Russia and the US .
The FAS reports that this global inventory is declining, but with several important nuances : the rate of reduction "is slower compared to the last 30 years", the number is only going down "because the United States and Russia continue to dismantle retired warheads before" and the current ones "are much more capable" than those of decades ago.
t has not been the only relevant fact in the field of nuclear weapons in recent times.
In February 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered his country's deterrent forces , which include nuclear weapons, to go to their highest state of alert.
And in October 2021, in a drastic departure from the Trump administration, the government of US President Joe Biden revealed the numbers of his country's nuclear arsenal. The United States has 3,750 nuclear warheads in its arsenal and 2,000 are awaiting dismantlement, according to a State Department statement. What other countries have nuclear weapons and how many?
This is a look at the world's nuclear arsenals.
These are the countries with nuclear weapons
Data on nuclear reserves varies from one source to another. The following information comes from the Nuclear Threat Initiative and gives an account of the countries with the most confirmed nuclear weapons besides the United States.
China — 290 warheads, approximately 90 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
France — Approximately 290 nuclear warheads.
India — Between 130 and 140 nuclear warheads.
Pakistan — 90-110 nuclear warheads.
Russia — 1,444 warheads deployed on 527 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and warheads targeting heavy bombers. If warheads not deployed, stored, or awaiting decommissioning are also counted, the total arsenal would come to 6,370 weapons.
The United Kingdom — Approximately 225 strategic warheads.
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