According to a new report published by the International Campaign for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), total spending on nuclear weapons by the nine countries that own these weapons has increased by 11% in 2024, to $100 billion. The additional 10 billion USD is mainly spent on modernization and, in some cases, expanding existing nuclear weapons depots.
The report highlights that with the money spent on nuclear weapons in 2024, these countries may have paid the United Nations' annual budget up to 28 times.
The US recorded the largest spending increase, with an increase of 5.3 billion USD, bringing the total spending for the year to 56.8 billion USD. This figure exceeds the total spending of all remaining nuclear-powered countries. China ranked second with 12.5 billion USD, followed by the UK with 10.4 billion USD, up 2.2 billion USD compared to the previous year.
Other countries on the list of nuclear weapons owners include France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia.
Alicia Sanders- Zakre, policy and research coordinator at ICAN, said at a press conference in Geneva that tensions over the conflict in Ukraine have been cited by British and French leaders as a factor affecting increased defense budgets, but nuclear spending has been largely driven by rising costs of long-term contracts and the development of modern nuclear weapons deployment systems.
She also said that the UK and its NATO allies now see Russia as a major security threat to Europe and that some countries have proposed increasing the GDP share for defense. However, long-term budget and new technology factors have been the main drivers of the wave of increased nuclear spending over the past year.
