The total number of nuclear warheads in the world is declining, primarily due to the US and Russia continuing to reduce their nuclear arsenal. The total number of nuclear warheads in the world is declining, primarily due to the US and Russia continuing to reduce their nuclear arsenal.

India and Pakistan are reportedly expanding their nuclear arsenal, despite a global trend towards disarmament, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has said.

The SIPRI on Monday published the findings in its ‘Yearbook 2015’, which assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security in the world.

The disarmament report prepared by the Swedish institute said that though the number of warheads fell from 22,600 to 15,850 between 2010 and 2015, India (90 to 100 warheads) and Pakistan (100 to 120 warheads) undertook “extensive and expensive long-term modernisation programmes”.

According to the report, at the start of 2015, nine states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — possessed approximately 15,850 nuclear weapons, of which 4,300 were deployed with operational forces.

The total number of nuclear warheads in the world is declining, primarily due to the US and Russia continuing to reduce their nuclear arsenal, albeit at slower pace compared with a decade ago, the report says.

However, “despite renewed international interest in prioritising nuclear disarmament, the modernisation programmes under way in the nuclear weapon-possessing states suggests that none of them will give up their nuclear arsenals in the foreseeable future,” SIPRI Senior Researcher Shannon Kile said.

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