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Nuclear-armed states invested a record amount in their atomic arsenals last year, with spending topping $100 billion for the first time, according to estimates released by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican). Spending on nuclear weapons rose by 11 per cent ($9.9bn), driven largely by the United States, which – at $56.8bn – spent more than double all of the other nuclear states combined.
China was the second largest spender at $12.5bn – though this is less than a quarter of the US’s contribution. In third place was the United Kingdom ($10bn), with the biggest year-on-year increase of 26 per cent. Russia, France, North Korea, India, Israel, and Pakistan, also doubled down on maintaining, modernising and, in some cases, expanding their nuclear weapons, the Geneva-based advocacy group said, with spending soaring by just over 47 per cent from $68bn to $100.2bn over the last five years.
Read the full story on Geneva Solutions.
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