Which Country Has the Most Nuclear Weapons?

Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world, with 7,850. The United States comes in second place with 6,800 nuclear weapons.

The United States was the first nation to develop a nuclear bomb and it did so racing against time, fearing that the Nazi Germany could beat them to it. The number of nuclear warheads owned by the United States grew considerably at the height of its cold war with the Soviet Union. However, at the same time, the Soviet Union was also growing their nuclear arsenal. Today, Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world, with 6,850.

Here’s a list of countries around the world that possess nuclear weapons.

Russia – 6,850

Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world. At last estimates, the total number of nuclear weapons possessed by Russia was 6,850, according to the Arms Control Association. It is hard to know for sure how many weapons the country has because it is kept top-secret. In any case, this number is considered to be a decrease from the number of weapons that Russia had during its early days of nuclear testing.

The United States – 6,550

The United States was the birthplace of the nuclear weapon. Starting the the 1940s, the US government spent upwards of 9 trillion dollars to develop a bomb that could be used in atomic combat. In 1945, with the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States became the first country, and to date the last, to use nuclear weapons in acts of war. The US first tested their nuclear weapons with the Trinity nuclear test in the desert of New Mexico in 1945.

Other Countries

The India-Pakistan war created bad blood between these two neighboring nations. India developed nuclear weapons before Pakistan and because of the tensions between them, Pakistan went ahead and did the same. Currently India is estimated to be having nearly 135 nuclear warheads while Pakistan has about 145.

The fact that North Korea currently has nuclear weapons makes things worse for the Korean peninsula. Its nuclear warheads stand at fewer than 10 while its neighbor, South Korea, has none. South Korea has the potential of developing nuclear weapon but are currently not showing any interest.

The Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty

In 1970, the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty came into effect. It prohibited countries who had not already developed nuclear weapons from doing so while the ones which had already developed them had to reduce their capacity.