A new report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has found that global spending on nuclear weapons increased by 13% during 2023. The total amount spent around the world reached $91.4bn – an increase of $10.7bn from the previous year.
Surge: 2023 Global nuclear weapons spending was published last month and sets out the figures after research around the world.
All nine of the nuclear armed states are spending more on their arsenals. American was by far the largest spender, with $51.5bn in 2023, with China next ($11.9bn) and then Russia ($8.3), the UK ($8.1bn) and France ($6.1bn). Figures for the undeclared countries – India, Pakistan and Israel are not available in detail due to a lack of transparency.
The latest report is the fifth on global nuclear weapons spending from ICAN, and shows that during that time spending on nuclear weapons has risen by a huge 34% – or $23.3bn. Over that period spending in the US has risen by 45% and in the UK by 43%.
The figures come after global spending on the military reached $2.44 trillion last year – the largest level since the end of the Cold War.
