Report: Global Nuclear Weapons Spending Surpassed $100 Billion Last Year

In 2024, for the fifth year in a row, the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations increased spending on nuclear weapons, according to a report published by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The annual report, entitled, “Hidden Costs: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2024,” reveals that last year, the nine nuclear states increased spending by 11 percent ($9.9 billion), surpassing $100 billion to maintain, modernize, and expand their nuclear arsenals.

The report details how last year the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea collectively spent the equivalent of $274 million every day (more than $3,100 per second) on nuclear weapons. Authors of the report said nuclear weapons spending has increased by 47 percent since 2020, but not all countries spent equally.

Last year, the United States continued to outspend all other nuclear-armed nations by far, pouring $56.8 billion (over $107,000 per minute) into modernizing and maintaining its 5,177 total inventory of nuclear weapons, more than the other eight nations combined. U.S. nuclear weapons spending includes replacing its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), modifying a new generation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and upgrading the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which has a maximum yield (blast power) of 360 kilotons. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was approximately 15 kilotons. Currently, the U.S. is modernizing seven different nuclear warhead types.

While the United States has the second-largest nuclear arsenal (after Russia), Washington outspent Moscow by seven times and increased its spending over 2023 by 10 percent compared to Russia’s 6 percent. The U.S. and Russia possess roughly 87 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, but China was the second-highest spending nation, but still well behind the U.S.; it increased spending by 8 percent to $12.5 billion as it rapidly expands its nuclear arsenal, currently estimated to be 600 warheads.

The largest spending change by percentage was the United Kingdom with a 26 percent increase to $10.4 billion. In 2024, the U.K. government announced it was developing a new nuclear warhead. Currently, its nuclear arsenal is estimated to contain the equivalent of 1,500 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

After the U.K.’s spending increase, Pakistan had the second-highest percentage rise at 18 percent. In comparison, India, Israel, and North Korea’s spending increases last year were at 3 percent, 2 percent, and 7 percent respectively. These rates were relatively smaller and at slower rates than the permanent five (“P5”) nuclear weapon states.

Under Article 6 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, all states parties are obliged “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.” However, contrary to those obligations, nuclear weapons spending has continued to rise since the treaty’s adoption in 1968. ICAN reports last year’s $100 billion expenditure is enough to feed 345 million people facing hunger and starvation for nearly two years.

When Nuclear Neighbors Fight

“This is taking place in the context of a senseless military build-up, particularly pronounced in Europe and the Middle East, which places arms manufacturer profits above the basic security needs of the population,” Alicia Sanders-Zakre, ICAN’s policy and research coordinator and coauthor of the report, told Truthout in an email.

The result, Sanders-Zakre said, “is a more insecure world where, as we have seen in the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, the possession of nuclear weapons, far from guaranteeing peace and security, presents the risk of global annihilation.” In 2022, scientists at Rutgers University published a sobering report warning that climate disruption resulting from a nuclear war fought by India and Pakistan could lead to 2 billion or more deaths.

That risk was highlighted in May when India and Pakistan exchanged missile and drone strikes following a terrorist attack on civilians in the disputed Kashmir region. India has an estimated total inventory of 180 nuclear warheads, compared with Pakistan’s total inventory of 170.

The United States continued to outspend all other nuclear-armed nations by far, pouring $56.8 billion into modernizing and maintaining its 5,177 total inventory of nuclear weapons.

John Erath, senior policy director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, told Truthout in a phone call that nuclear weapons cannot simply be wished away. “There has to be a lot of work done in other areas to settle a lot of the causes of insecurity around the world, the motivations for why people want to have nuclear weapons to begin with. If you can do that, then you can start talking about reducing nuclear weapons,” he said.

“Clearly, the governments in both [India and Pakistan] feel that it’s worth the additional security that they feel nuclear weapons provide,” said Erath. Economic sanctions alone will not convince either country to abandon nuclear weapons, Erath says, without resolving disputes that have dogged the two countries since partition in 1947.

The Hidden Costs of Sharing Bombs

ICAN’s report also includes an overview of the scale and costs of nuclear sharing in Europe which entails, among other nuclear-related practices, the housing of U.S. nuclear weapons in allied nations. Currently, the U.S. has an estimated 100 B61 nuclear gravity bombs at six NATO military bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey. The U.S. maintains launch authority over the weapons, but allied nations are equipped to use them if approved by a NATO Nuclear Planning Group and authorized by the U.S. and U.K.

Among NATO countries, this practice began in 1954 and continues with little to no transparency or public input. Russia is suspected of housing its own “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus.

With the deteriorating security environment in Europe and Asia, there is also increased discussion of the possibility of nuclear sharing with South Korea, Poland, and other U.S. NATO allies. Meanwhile, as the Trump administration was attempting to negotiate a new deal with Iran after he withdrew from a completed agreement in 2018, Israel has preemptively launched military airstrikes across Iran, fueling more conflict and uncertainty.

Even Trump Admits It’s Too Much (But Boosts Spending Anyway)

Increased nuclear spending, particularly in the United States, has even been criticized by the president himself. In February, Newsweek reported that Donald Trump vowed to denuclearize “in a very big way.” Trump said, “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over.”

Denouncing nuclear weapons budgets of Russia, China, and the U.S., Trump said, “We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually hopefully much more productive.” Despite Trump’s unambiguous remarks, in May, his administration requested $25 billion, a 29 percent increase, in nuclear weapons-related spending by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semiautonomous agency under the Department of Energy.

NNSA is responsible for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and other related functions. Like other aspects of the Trump administration, there are significant inconsistencies between the president’s statements and official policy goals.

Meanwhile, in its first five months, the second Trump administration has shuttered government programs and imposed deep and widespread budget cuts between 25 percent and 55 percent to science, education, environmental, and climate change spending to the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the NOAA, NASA, and other critical U.S. federal agencies and programs.

Industry Stands to Profit From Nuclear Buildup

The ICAN report also examines the role of lobbyists and industry in promoting and profiting from nuclear weapons. The U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise, the report finds, is supported by at least 19 companies, including well-known firms like Lockheed Martin, Honeywell International, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Rolls Royce, as well as lesser known companies such as Amentum, BWX Technologies, and RTX (formerly Raytheon).

In January, Lockheed Martin announced it had been awarded a $383 million contract to modify the Trident II D5 missile in order to “life extend” the weapon system through 2084. In a release summarizing its 2024 financial results, Northrop Grumman reported an increased income of $1.7 billion from its work on the B-21 nuclear capable bomber.

Lockheed Martin and Honeywell did not respond to Truthout’s requests for comment, but some of the corporations named in the report have published messages to their investors denying or minimizing their contribution to nuclear weapons production.

As the Trump administration was attempting to negotiate a new deal with Iran, Israel has preemptively launched military airstrikes across Iran, fueling more conflict and uncertainty.

“No company builds the entire nuclear weapon, just as no single company builds all of the components for a high-performance race car,” Susi Snyder, ICAN program coordinator and coauthor of the report, told Truthout. “But each of these contributions is a part of making sure these weapons are capable of delivering indiscriminate mass destruction whenever they are used — even if by accident or mistake.”

Danger for All

Paul Dean, vice president for Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told Truthout in an email that at a time when nuclear dangers are more acute than at any point since the Cold War, it’s important for nuclear-armed countries to reach mutually agreed upon constraints, without which, he said, “we will enter a wasteful and dangerous action-reaction cycle which has no inherent end point and is ultimately bad for all sides’ security.”

Dean called for bold leadership, not only from nuclear-armed states, but from all countries to demand concrete steps to address nuclear dangers. “This is a global issue and everyone has a stake,” he said.

Various leaders, from UN Secretary General António Guterres to Pope Francis have strongly condemned the nuclear weapons buildup and threat of use. Pope Francis called the “mere possession” of nuclear weapons immoral. In 2024, Irish President Michael D. Higgins said nuclear disarmament “must be our priority.”

As a minority of nations increase spending to support their dependence on both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation’s Erath asked, “Do we really feel safer with more of these very dangerous weapons out there?” adding, “The world is a safer place with fewer nuclear weapons, not more.”

In addition to its new spending report, ICAN and its partners continue to call for all countries to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which entered into force in 2021. Currently, 98 countries — roughly half of all UN member states — have signed, ratified, or acceded to the treaty which bans all aspects of nuclear weapons.