List of Top 9 Nuclear Power Countries: Where Does India Stand?

Countries with most nuclear weapons: If someone asks you what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6, 1945, it may be difficult for you to elaborate on that devastating historical day.

During World War II, the United States gave up the “little boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, which is the “little boy” of the United States. Just three days after the incident, the United States once again dropped another nuclear bomb in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Fast forward, and the United States became the only country to use this catastrophic force for the first time. Then the world saw explosive development of nuclear weapons and technology.

Other countries eventually developed nuclear capabilities. In this article, we will better examine countries with nuclear weapons and how they affect global politics and security.

Which country has the most nuclear weapons?

Currently, a total of nine countries have the power to possess nuclear weapons. However, according to ICAN, Russia has the most nuclear weapons among other nuclear powers, which is the most important position. It has more than 5,500 nuclear warheads.

  • Country: Russia
  • Capital: Moscow
  • Mainland: transcontinental countries, across Europe and Asia
  • Population: approximately 144 million
  • Ranking among nuclear powered countries: #1
  • Chairman: Vladimir Putin
  • Minister of Defense: Andrey Belousov

List of nuclear weapons

According to ICAN, this is a list of countries with the most nuclear weapons in the world.

rank

nation

Nuclear weapons number

1

Russia

Have 5,449 nuclear weapons

2

us

Have 5,277 nuclear weapons

3

China

Have 600 nuclear weapons

4

France

Have 290 nuclear weapons

5

U.K.

Have 225 nuclear weapons

6

India

Have 180 nuclear weapons

7

Pakistan

Have 170 nuclear weapons

8

Israel

Have 90 nuclear weapons

9

North Korea

Have 50 nuclear weapons

The United States and Russia, two former Cold War superpowers, jointly control 88% of the world’s total nuclear arsenal and 84% of military-ready warheads.

Since the Cold War, global nuclear arsenals have dropped significantly from about 70,300 warheads in 1986 to an estimated 12,331 by early 2025.

Here are the current counts of nuclear weapons by country:

  1. Russia: 5,449 warheads
  2. United States: 5,277 warheads
  3. China: 600 warheads
  4. France: 290 warheads
  5. United Kingdom: 225 warhead
  6. India: 180 warheads
  7. Pakistan: 170 warheads
  8. Israel: 90 warheads
  9. North Korea: 50 warheads

Focus on India:

Source: Indian Express

India currently ranks sixth in the world in terms of the number of nuclear warheads and is actively improving its nuclear energy. This development is particularly noteworthy when considered with neighbors, China and Pakistan, who are pursuing similar expansions.

The fact that India and Pakistan rank in succession of nuclear Arsenal scale (sixth and seventh, respectively) adds to the complexity and risk of their already tense bilateral relations. The recent terrorist attacks in Pahalgam in Kashmir are areas with a long history of conflict between the two countries, which has raised a clear reminder of the volatile security landscape.

Although the United States and Russia are the two largest nuclear powers, gradually reducing their inventory by removing retired warheads, India stands out as one of the countries that actively develop its nuclear stockpiles.

This is in stark contrast to the general view of most nuclear-weapon countries that hundreds of nuclear weapons are enough to solve national security issues. Research by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimates that the total number of nuclear warheads worldwide is about 12,331.

What are nuclear weapons?

Source: FAS

Nuclear weapons are explosive arsenals, considered disastrous forces that can erase the entire country in one explosion.

They gain destructive power from nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, or a combination of both. They are often referred to as atomic bombs, atomic bombs, A bombs, nuclear bombs, nuclear warheads or simple nuclear weapons.

These weapons are divided into two broad categories: fission and combination weapons, or more destructive fusion-based designs (thermonuclear weapons), also known as hydrogen bombs or H bombs.