The United States and Russia continued to dismantle aging nuclear warheads in 2020, but together with the new ones, the total number of warheads in operational deployment at the beginning of 2021 increased by about 50 units. This is stated in the report of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Moreover, Russia has increased its total nuclear arsenal by about 180 warheads, largely through the deployment of land-based, multi-warhead ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
In general, the number of deployed nuclear weapons in the world has grown from 3,720 to 3,825. Approximately 2,000 of them (almost all belong to the Russian Federation and the United States) are in a state of increased combat readiness.
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“It is a worrying sign that the downward trend that has characterized global nuclear arsenals since the end of the Cold War has stalled. Prospects for additional bilateral nuclear arms control among nuclear superpowers remain weak,” writes Hans M. Christensen of SIPRI.
The total number of nuclear weapons in the world has decreased from 13,400 to 13,080.
More than 90% of its reserves are in the USA and the Russian Federation; the rest are kept in Britain, Israel, India, China, Pakistan, France and the DPRK.
As for the United States and the Russian Federation, the deployed strategic nuclear forces of both countries remained within the reporting period within the framework of the 2010 treaty on measures to further reduce and limit strategic offensive arms (although the treaty does not limit the total stocks of nuclear warheads).
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