Where Data Tells the Story
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Global spending on nuclear weapons increased by 11 percent in 2024 compared to the year before, surpassing $100 billion, or $190,151 every minute. This is according to the latest report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). More than half of this was by the United States, which spent $56.8 billion. China was the second biggest spender, accounting for $12.5 billion, followed by the United Kingdom with $10.4 billion. As the following chart shows, the countries to have seen the biggest relative increases were the United Kingdom at 26 percent, Pakistan at 18 percent and France at 13 percent.
According to ICAN, a cumulative $415.9 billion was spent by the nine countries that have developed nuclear weapons on their arsenals over the five years between 2020 and 2024. Spending has been increasing over the years, having already risen 34 percent between 2019 and 2023.