Nuclear weapons spending surges to record high of $119bn, report says

International Campaign to Abolish nuclear weapons says states spent an extra $16.8bn on their nuclear arsenals in 2025.Global spending on nuclear weapons last year rose to an all-time high of $119bn, according to a report by nonproliferation advocates.The world’s nine nuclear-armed countries spent an additional $16.8bn on their arsenals in 2025 compared with the previous year, the International Campaign to Abolish nuclear weapons (ICAN) said in its latest report released on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4New York City crowd boos US President Donald Trump at NBA playoff gamelist 2 of 4Botswana diamond slump hits miners living on the edge of survivallist 3 of 4US lists China’s BYD, Alibaba, Baidu as ‘Chinese military companies’list 4 of 4Trump says US in ‘final throes’ of Iran deal, Hormuz strait to open in daysend of listThe United States spent an estimated $69.2bn, a rise of $12.6bn, and more than all other nuclear powers combined, ICAN said.China was the second-biggest spender, with an estimated $13.5bn, followed by the United Kingdom with $12.6bn, Russia with $9.5bn and France with $7.7bn, according to ICAN.India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea spent sums ranging from $656m (by Pyongyang) to $2.8bn (by New Delhi).ICAN said nuclear-armed states spent a combined $471bn over the past five years, with all of them planning to retain their arsenals for decades more.“This exorbitant spending comes at a time when countries are significantly scaling back their investments in the global commons,” ICAN said in a summary accompanying the report.“Whether reneging from climate change adaptation agreements or failing to pay their fair share to prevent the scourge of war through multilateral diplomacy, this overwhelming spending on nuclear weapons shows a willingness to research, develop, finance and build tools to exterminate humanity instead of save it.”The report comes just a day after the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warned that nuclear states were “sidelining” and “walking away from” nuclear disarmament commitments in favour of modernising and enhancing their arsenals.