Who Has Nuclear Weapons? Every Nuclear Power and Its Arsenal

Nine countries have nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. Together they held an estimated 12,187 warheads in January 2026, according to the SIPRI Yearbook 2026. About 9,745 of those sit in military stockpiles and roughly 4,012 are deployed on missiles or at bomber bases. Russia and the United States account for almost 86 percent of the total.

Every number here is an estimate. Governments rarely publish counts, and transparency is shrinking: New START expired on 5 February 2026, France said in March that it would stop disclosing its stockpile, and Britain stopped in 2021. The figures below are SIPRI's January 2026 assessment by Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda, who also maintain the Federation of American Scientists' Status of World Nuclear Forces tracker. FAS publishes the same inventory totals for each country.

Who Has Nuclear Weapons? The Nine Nuclear-Armed States

The table ranks the nine by total warheads, with first test year and Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) status.

Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2026, estimates for January 2026. "Total inventory" includes retired warheads waiting to be dismantled. "Military stockpile" does not. "Deployed" means on missiles or at operational bases. The NPT recognizes five states, those that tested before 1967. North Korea's withdrawal has not been accepted by the other members, according to the Arms Control Association.

How Many Nuclear Weapons Does Russia Have?

Russia has the largest arsenal in the world, an estimated 5,420 warheads. Of those, 4,400 are in the military stockpile and about 1,796 are deployed, around 1,596 on ballistic missiles and 200 at heavy bomber bases. Another 1,794 are non-strategic warheads believed to be kept in storage, and about 1,020 are retired and awaiting dismantling.

It is a full triad: 324 ICBM launchers led by the RS-24 Yars, 13 ballistic missile submarines, and 60 Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers. Our guide to Russian submarines covers the Borei fleet and the Poseidon torpedo. The replacements have run late: SIPRI says the Sarmat heavy ICBM is more than eight years behind schedule, with more failed tests than successes, and the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, tested in October 2025, is probably years from service. A November 2024 update to Russian doctrine widened the circumstances in which Moscow could use nuclear weapons.

How Many Nuclear Weapons Does the United States Have?

The United States has an estimated 5,042 warheads: 3,700 in the stockpile, 1,770 deployed and 1,342 retired. It is the most open of the nine: Washington declassified a stockpile of 3,748 as of September 2023, and independent estimates now put it at about 3,700. Its triad rests on 400 Minuteman III ICBMs, 14 Ohio-class submarines carrying Trident II D5 missiles, and B-52H and B-2A bombers, 65 of which counted as nuclear-capable under the expired treaty.

Nearly all of it is being replaced. The Sentinel ICBM, Columbia-class submarine and B-21 Raider are in the pipeline, but SIPRI says Sentinel is at least four years late and about 81 percent over budget, so Minuteman III will stay in service until at least 2050. The United States remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. It has not adopted a no-first-use pledge, and SIPRI sees no change in its posture so far, though the end of New START leaves room to deploy more.

China's Fast-Growing Arsenal

China is the one state adding warheads quickly. SIPRI puts its arsenal at about 620, up from 600 a year earlier, and the Pentagon's December 2025 report described a stockpile in the low 600s that is on course to pass 1,000 by 2030. Beijing publishes no figures. Almost all warheads are thought to be in storage, though SIPRI now counts up to 34 on missiles, up from 24.

The build-up shows most in launchers. SIPRI counts 775 land-based launchers, including DF-31 and DF-41 ICBMs, plus six ballistic missile submarines carrying the JL-3. The Pentagon says China has loaded more than 100 missiles into three new silo fields, which we covered when the draft report leaked. China declares a no-first-use policy and a minimum deterrent, although SIPRI notes that its quick-launch silos and early-warning satellites have triggered debate about how firmly the pledge would hold.

France and the United Kingdom: Europe's Nuclear Powers

France has an estimated 370 warheads, 290 of them in service, carried by four ballistic missile submarines and by Rafale fighters armed with the ASMPA-R cruise missile. The newest submarine missile, the M51.3, was test-fired from Le Vigilant in October, as we reported. On 2 March 2026, Macron announced that France would raise its warhead count without saying by how much, and would let European allies join its nuclear exercises under what he called "forward deterrence". The decision to use them stays with the president alone.

The United Kingdom holds 225 warheads, of which 120 are operationally available, all on Trident II D5 missiles aboard four Vanguard-class submarines. London raised its stockpile ceiling from 225 to 260 in 2021, and in 2025 it announced the purchase of 12 F-35A jets to rejoin NATO's nuclear-sharing mission from the early 2030s.

India and Pakistan: South Asia's Arsenals

India has an estimated 190 warheads and Pakistan about 170, and both are growing. India first tested in 1974 and both countries tested in May 1998. Neither has joined the NPT. India fields aircraft, Prithvi and Agni missiles, and ballistic missile submarines, and SIPRI thinks it may now keep around 12 warheads on one submarine on patrol. Pakistan relies on Mirage aircraft and short- and medium-range missiles, including the 70-kilometer Nasr.

India's declared policy is no first use with a credible minimum deterrent. Pakistan rejects a no-first-use pledge and describes its approach as full-spectrum deterrence. In May 2025 the two fought their most serious conflict in decades, with Indian strikes on Pakistani air and missile bases that SIPRI assesses have nuclear missions. Both kept it conventional, but SIPRI calls the risk of sudden escalation a lingering concern.

North Korea: The Newest Nuclear Power

North Korea is estimated to have assembled about 60 warheads and to hold enough fissile material for at least 90. It carried out six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017. SIPRI finds no public evidence that it has an operational warhead for an ICBM, and no ballistic missile submarine is thought to be operational. It has, however, tested a series of ICBMs up to the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 and Hwasong-19. A 2022 law allows nuclear use, including preemptively, if the leadership or nuclear command is attacked or an attack is judged imminent. Kim Jong Un called a new destroyer part of the country's nuclear counteraction system in September.

Israel: The Undeclared Arsenal

Israel has never confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons. Its policy is called nuclear ambiguity, and it says it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. SIPRI estimates about 90 warheads, kept in storage rather than on launchers, with Jericho II and III missiles, F-15 and F-16I aircraft and, reportedly, cruise missiles on Dolphin-class submarines as the likely delivery systems. SIPRI stresses that the estimate carries considerable uncertainty.

Delivery Systems and Doctrine Compared

Only the United States, Russia and China field a full triad of land, sea and air weapons, though India and Pakistan are building theirs.

Delivery systems follow SIPRI's January 2026 tables. Doctrine lines summarize public statements.

NATO Nuclear Sharing: Which Countries Host US Weapons?

SIPRI estimates that 100 to 120 US B61 gravity bombs sit at six or seven air bases in Europe, still in American custody. The host countries are Belgium (Kleine Brogel), Germany (Büchel), Italy (Aviano and Ghedi), the Netherlands (Volkel) and Türkiye (Incirlik), according to the Arms Control Association. Greece takes part on a contingency basis, and SIPRI says weapons may also be held in the UK. In wartime, allied pilots would deliver the bombs in their own aircraft, hence "sharing". Britain's F-35A order would make it a formal host nation from the early 2030s.

Pressure to widen the arrangement is growing. Polish officials favor hosting US weapons, Finland and Sweden have signaled they might in wartime, and Sweden's prime minister said in January that he had begun engaging France and Britain. Russia has its own version: Belarus's president says Russian weapons are on his soil and Moscow has shown the Oreshnik missile there, but SIPRI found no conclusive visual evidence of warheads as of January 2026.

Countries That Gave Up Their Nuclear Weapons

South Africa secretly built six nuclear devices in the 1980s, ended the programme in 1989, dismantled the weapons in 1990 and joined the NPT in July 1991. IAEA inspectors later verified the disarmament. The Soviet collapse left weapons on three other territories. Under the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine agreed to send them to Russia and join the NPT as non-nuclear states, which was completed by 1996. Estimates put the inherited strategic warheads at about 1,900 in Ukraine, 1,410 in Kazakhstan and 100 in Belarus, according to the Arms Control Association. Their 1994 Budapest Memorandum security assurances have been cited by Ukrainian leaders since Russia's invasions of 2014 and 2022.

Iran and Other Threshold Cases

Iran has no nuclear weapons and says its programme is peaceful. Analysts call it a threshold state, able to build a bomb if it chose to. As of 13 June 2025 the IAEA estimated that Iran held 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, a short technical step from weapons grade and, by an IAEA yardstick, enough for about 10 weapons if enriched further, Reuters reported. The United States and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites that month, and inspectors have not returned to them. The agency says it cannot verify where the material is now. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on 27 October that Iran had still not provided the information and access requested.

Iran remains a party to the NPT, though Tehran has threatened to leave it. Talks to end the conflict with Washington continue, but on 28 October an Iranian official said Tehran would not compromise on the nuclear issue.

FAQ: How Many Countries Have Nuclear Weapons?

Nine. Five are recognized by the NPT (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China), three never joined the treaty (India, Pakistan and Israel), and North Korea says it has withdrawn. Together they hold about 12,187 warheads, SIPRI estimates.

Which Country Has the Most Nuclear Weapons?

Russia, with an estimated 5,420 warheads against 5,042 for the United States. In military stockpiles it is 4,400 to 3,700. Deployed warheads are almost level, about 1,796 for Russia and 1,770 for the US.

Does Israel Have Nuclear Weapons?

Israel has never said so, and it has never said otherwise. Outside researchers estimate it has about 90 warheads. Its arsenal is undeclared and unverified, so that figure is an informed guess rather than a count.

Has Anyone Used Nuclear Weapons Since 1945?

No. The two bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 are the only uses in war. The last nuclear test explosion by any country was North Korea's in 2017.

Which Nuclear-Armed Countries Are Not in the NPT?

India, Pakistan and Israel never joined. North Korea joined and announced its withdrawal in 2003, but other members have not legally recognized it.