Country ranking · 2026
Military stockpile · warheads · Federation of American Scientists · Our World in Data ↗
| Rank | Country | Military stockpile · warheads |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russia | 4,400 |
| 2 |  United States | 3,700 |
| 3 |  China | 620 |
| 4 |  France | 290 |
| 5 |  United Kingdom | 225 |
| 6 |  India | 190 |
| 7 |  Pakistan | 170 |
| 8 |  Israel | 90 |
| 9 |  North Korea | 60 |
| 10 |  South Africa | 0 |
Questions and answers
Which nuclear warheads are counted?
Military stockpiles include deployed and reserve warheads, but exclude retired weapons awaiting dismantlement. These are published estimates, not exact inventories or counts of deployed weapons alone.
How are historical arsenals and reference dates treated?
The source combines USSR / Russia as one continuous series. In this chart, USSR is shown through 1991 and Russia enters as a separate entity in 1992, without changing the source values. South Africa and published historical zeros are retained. Annual reference dates differ between sources and are not a common December 31 snapshot.
How were the estimates cross-checked?
US observations from 1962–2023 were checked against declassified DOE figures; nine 2026 estimates were compared with SIPRI. FAS and SIPRI share expertise, so this is not an independent measurement of every country.
Where do the data come from?
Federation of American Scientists · Our World in Data ↗
Updated . Source validation: 2026-10-12.