Arming and Disarming

The United States and Russian arsenals are greatly reduced from their Cold War peaks, but the superpowers each retain thousands of weapons. The combined arsenals of the other seven nuclear nations are a small fraction of the size of the American and Russian stockpiles.

Comparing Nuclear Arsenals

Russia and the United States are believed to have 7,000 weapons each, or more. Only about a quarter of these are deployed, and most of the others are in reserve or set aside to be dismantled. North Korea's arsenal is cloaked in secrecy, but experts believe it has fewer than 10 weapons.