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Estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles

See all data and research on:
Nuclear WeaponsWar & Peace

What you should know about this indicator

  • Stockpiles include warheads assigned to military forces, but exclude retired warheads queued for dismantlement.
  • Retired warheads are only included in the global total.
  • The exact number of countries' warheads is secret, and the estimates are based on publicly available information, historical records, and occasional leaks.
  • Warheads vary substantially in their destructing power.
Estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles
Estimated number of nuclear warheads in the stockpiles of nuclear powers.
Source
Federation of American Scientists (2023) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 9, 2024
Next expected update
May 2025
Date range
1945–2023
Unit
warheads

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Nuclear Weapons by Our World in Data

Nuclear Weapons

Bastian Herre, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser

Nuclear weapons: Why reducing the risk of nuclear war should be a key concern of our generation

Max Roser

Explore charts that include this data

Estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

This dataset provides information on the number of stockpiled nuclear warheads by the nuclear powers.

Retrieved on
January 9, 2024
Retrieved from
https://fas.org/initiative/status-world-nuclear-forces/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Robert S. Norris, and Eliana Reynolds, Federation of American Scientists - Estimated Global Nuclear Warhead Inventories (2023).

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles”, part of the following publication: Bastian Herre, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser (2024) - “Nuclear Weapons”. Data adapted from Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/nuclear-warhead-stockpiles-lines [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Federation of American Scientists (2023) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Federation of American Scientists (2023) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles” [dataset]. Federation of American Scientists, “Estimated Global Nuclear Warhead Inventories” [original data]. Retrieved April 25, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/nuclear-warhead-stockpiles-lines