Nuclear-armed states spent a record $119 billion on weapons in 2025, ICAN says

# Nuclear-armed states spent a record $119 billion on weapons in 2025, ICAN says

The world’s nine nuclear-armed states spent nearly $119 billion on nuclear weapons in 2025, the highest annual total on record, according to a new report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The figure, released on the event date of 2026-06-08, marks a rise of nearly $17 billion, or about 20%, from the year before. ICAN said all nine nuclear-armed countries increased spending last year: the United States, China, Britain, Russia, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

The report places the United States far ahead of the rest. Washington spent $69.2 billion on nuclear weapons in 2025, ICAN said, more than the combined spending of all the other nuclear-armed states. That was up by $12.4 billion from 2024. China followed at an estimated $13.5 billion, Britain at $12.6 billion and Russia at $9.5 billion.

ICAN said the trend points to a long-term expansion rather than a temporary spike. The group warned that the investments are being planned across decades, with Britain, France and the United States all committed to major programs for developing, maintaining or replacing delivery systems and warheads.

Among the programs highlighted in the report were the planned US Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles, which ICAN said are expected to remain in service beyond 2100, and expanded US plutonium pit production, which it said could keep warheads viable through 2120. The report projected that US nuclear weapons spending alone could approach $1 trillion over the decade from 2025 to 2034.

The report also set the spending against wider global needs. ICAN said the money spent by the nuclear-armed states in 2025 could have paid for 32 years of the UN operating budget, while a single day of nuclear weapons spending could have provided food security to more than two million people.

Susi Snyder, ICAN’s director of programmes and a co-author of the report, said the scale of the spending was alarming, especially as humanitarian funding was under pressure. ICAN argued that the buildup reflects a new nuclear arms race that states are preparing to sustain for decades.

The report adds to concerns that nuclear modernization is becoming a permanent fixture of military budgets even as many governments face tighter fiscal conditions elsewhere. ICAN, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, said the record spending should be read as a warning about the direction of global security policy.