The United States spent $69.2 billion on nuclear weapons in 2025—more than all other nuclear armed states combined, a report found.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said in its report published June 9 that China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the UK, and the United States spent a total of $118.8 billion on nuclear arms, up 19 percent from 2024.
The United States had the largest annual increase between 2024 and 2025, up 22 percent (or $12.4 billion), the highest percentage increase of all nine nuclear armed states.
China remained second, spending $13.5 billion last year—an increase of 7 percent.
The UK overtook Russia to take third place, spending $12.6 billion, a 17 percent increase on the year before. Russia spent $9.5 billion, an increase of 6 percent.
“Across the board, nuclear-armed states are making plans to retain their arsenals for decades to come,” the report said.
“Several nuclear-armed states have published nuclear weapons spending projections of tens of billions or even past $1 trillion for the next decade or several decades. And all nuclear-armed states have weapons systems that will remain operational at least until 2050, if not until the next century.”
US Largest Military Spender
Earlier this year, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that global military expenditure rose by 2.9 percent to $2.89 trillion in 2025, the 11th consecutive year of growth. This is despite a 7.5 percent decline in spending from the United States.The United States remained the biggest spender in 2025 at $954 billion.
The top three spenders—the United States, China, and Russia—accounted for $1.48 trillion, or 51 percent, of the global total.
SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Director Nan Tian said in the report, published on April 27, that the decline in U.S. military expenditure in 2025 “is likely to be short-lived.”
“Spending approved by the US Congress for 2026 has risen to over $1 trillion, a substantial increase from 2025, and could rise further to $1.5 trillion in 2027 if President [Donald] Trump’s latest budget proposal is accepted,” he said.
China remained the world’s second-largest spender, lifting its budget by 7.4 percent to $336 billion, marking the 31st consecutive year of growth.
Europe Biggest Arms Importer
A March report from SIPRI found that Europe had become the world’s biggest arms importer over the past five years, as governments seek to rearm amid the perceived threat from Russia.Data from SIPRI showed that Europe accounted for 33 percent of global arms imports, rising by 210 percent between 2016 and 2020 and 2021 and 2025.
Europe had become the region with the largest share of total global arms imports “for the first time since the 1960s,” according to the institute, with the top spot having been held by the Asia and Oceania region previously between 2016 and 2020.
SPIRI said this was “overwhelmingly” because of the growth in the movement of arms to Ukraine—accounting for 9.7 percent of all arms transfers—and other European countries.
Mathew George, director of SIPRI’s Arms Transfer Program, said the “sharp increase” in arms flows to Europe pushed global arms transfer figures higher.
“Deliveries to Ukraine since 2022 are the most obvious factor, but most other European states have also started importing significantly more arms to shore up their military capabilities against a perceived growing threat from Russia,” George said.