The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) notes in its just-published Yearbook 2025 that there are currently a total of more than 12,200 nuclear warheads globally. Peace researchers are concerned that the last nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the U.S.A. will expire at the beginning of next year. There are no signs of any efforts to extend or replace it. So now instead: rearmament.
“What we have been seeing for several years is that the number of operational warheads and bombs is starting to increase,” SIPRI Director Dan Smith says, warning that the old weapons are still being disposed of, but new ones are being added in greater numbers. However, a new arms race could entail more risks than before, warns the peace researcher.
