The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has said that India has more nuclear weapons than Pakistan in 2024.
SIPRI’s annual assessment on the state of armaments, disarmament and international security has revealed that the United States owns the most warheads, followed by Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
The watchdog added that the role of nuclear weapons has become more important with rise in their number and types as states deepen their reliance on nuclear deterrence amid deteriorating geopolitical relations.
SIPRI further said the nuclear-armed states continued to modernise their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023.
According to the research, around 9,585 warheads out of 12,121 in January 2024 were in military stockpiles for potential use. Moreover, 3,904 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft — 60 more than in January 2023 while around 2,100 were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles.
It further said nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the US but for the first time, China is believed to have some warheads on high operational alert.
SIPRI Director Dan Smith voicing concerns said that while the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as cold war-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads.”
