Humanity is once again raising the stakes in the nuclear race. In 2023, the world spent more than $91.4 billion on nuclear weapons — that is more than $250 million daily, $174 thousand per minute, or almost $3 thousand per second. Data taken from the new report The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which considers these expenditures «an unacceptable misuse of public funds».
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: The United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. All of them increased spending on nuclear weapons last year. Expenditures in 2023 are $10.7 billion more than in 2022. The United States is the leader in this, accounting for 80% of the growth. Last year, the United States spent more on nuclear weapons than all other countries combined — $51.5 billion. China was the second largest spender, with $11.8 billion, followed by Russia is coming with spending of $8.3 billion. The UK and France spent $8.1 billion and $6.1 billion respectively.
Not only governments spend money on nuclear weapons. 20 corporations have invested a total of $30 billion in its development, production, and support. In 2023, the industry received at least $7.9 billion in new nuclear contracts. Honeywell International received the highest profit from production, earning about $6.2 billion, followed by Northrop Grumman ($5.9 billion), BAE Systems ($3.3 billion), Lockheed Martin ($2.89 billion), and General Dynamics ($2.7 billion). At least five companies, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Peraton, have contracts through 2039.
The report does not mention the spending on nuclear weapons by certain state-owned organizations, such as Bharat Dynamics Limited (India), China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) or Rostec (Russia), which are significant contributors to nuclear development but do not disclose data.
Source: IFLScience