Nuclear Weapons States of the World
Switch tabs to see official / unofficial / former / NATO nuclear sharing states.
Official Nuclear States — 5
Recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Exactly the same as the five permanent UN Security Council members.
| Country | Warheads (est.) | First Test | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | ~5,580 | 1949 | World's largest arsenal |
| USA | ~5,044 | 1945 | Only country to use nuclear weapons in war (Hiroshima & Nagasaki) |
| China | ~500 | 1964 | Rapidly expanding (projected 1,500 by 2035 per US DoD estimates). China maintains a no-first-use policy and states it keeps a minimum deterrent |
| France | ~290 | 1960 | Primarily submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) |
| UK | ~225 | 1952 | Shares the US Trident missile system |
Russia and the USA together hold about 90% of all nuclear warheads worldwide.
Unofficial Nuclear States — 4
Countries that never joined or withdrew from the NPT.
- India (1974) — Called its first test a "peaceful nuclear explosion." Never joined the NPT. Nuclear rivalry with Pakistan
- Pakistan (1998) — Responded to India's tests. Developed in response to India's nuclear tests. Sometimes called "the first Islamic nuclear weapon" by commentators, though this framing is controversial
- Israel — Neither confirms nor denies possession (policy of nuclear ambiguity, NCND). Believed to have produced weapons at the Dimona reactor
- North Korea (2006) — Withdrew from the NPT in 2003. Six nuclear tests conducted. Claims ICBM capability to reach the US mainland
Countries That Gave Up Nukes — 4
South Africa — The Only Voluntary Renunciation
Possessed 6 nuclear weapons but dismantled them voluntarily in 1989. The official reason was the changed security environment after the Cold War. Some scholars also note the timing — just before the transition to majority rule — as a possible contributing factor.
Ukraine — The Cost of Giving Up
Had the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal after the Soviet collapse — over 1,900 warheads. Returned them to Russia under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for territorial integrity guarantees from the US, Russia, and the UK.
The 2014 Crimea crisis and 2022 full-scale invasion showed those guarantees were toothless. Many analysts see it as evidence that nuclear disarmament commitments can be fragile, though others argue the lesson is that international security guarantees need strengthening, not that proliferation is the answer.
Belarus & Kazakhstan
Returned Soviet-era nuclear weapons to Russia in the mid-1990s. Kazakhstan's Semipalatinsk was the site of 456 Soviet nuclear tests.
NATO Nuclear Sharing — 5 Countries
These countries don't have their own nuclear weapons, but host US B61 tactical nuclear bombs and can deliver them with their own aircraft in wartime under a NATO agreement.
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Türkiye.
During the Cold War, US tactical nukes were also stationed in South Korea, Japan, Greece, and others. They were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991.