Photo/Illutration The English edition of a poster on nuclear powers’ warheads (Provided by Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition)

NAGASAKI--Although countries appear to be reducing their nuclear arsenals, the world now has more nuclear warheads available for deployment than five years ago, academics said.

Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (RECNA) developed and released a poster on June 5 that shows, at a glance, how many warheads each country owns.

Overall, the nine nuclear powers are estimated to have 12,520 warheads, down 200 from the previous year. These include retired warheads and those scheduled to be dismantled.

But for active nuclear warheads only, the number has increased from 9,251 in 2018 to 9,587 in 2023, according to the poster.

“The actual situation in the world is far from what can be called nuclear disarmament,” said Keiko Nakamura, an associate professor of international relations studies at RECNA.

The latest estimate is based on government documents, data from the U.S. Federation of American Scientists, and other sources as of June 1.

According to the figures, Washington had 5,244 total nuclear warheads and Moscow had 5,890, both year-on-year declines. Their combined warhead number was 2,166 lower than that for 2018.

But the warhead numbers rose year-on-year to 410 in China, 164 in India and 170 in Pakistan.

For retired warheads and those planned to be dismantled, Russia had 1,400 while the United States had 1,536.

Russia also had 4,490 warheads available for deployment, compared with 3,708 for the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in March announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.

The RECNA said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is fueling the nuclear arms race, with Washington and Moscow upgrading their aged nuclear arsenals.

The center called for an urgent upgraded framework to replace the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and Russia.

The Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament was released at the Group of Seven summit in May, specifying “the overall decline in global nuclear arsenals achieved since the end of the Cold War must continue and not be reversed.”

Nakamura touched upon the vision.

“The total warhead number has been on the decline,” she said. “But what is important for analyzing global affairs is looking at the real circumstances.”

The poster is accessible at (https://www.recna.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/recna/bd/files/NuclearWH_2023_ENG.pdf). The analysis results are also available on the RECNA’s website.

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