ICAN: $100 Billion was spent last year on nuclear weapons

More than $100 billion was spent by the nine nuclear-armed countries on their nuclear arsenals last year, as ICAN shows in “Hidden Costs: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2024” released today.

The United States once again topped the charts as the biggest spender, at almost $57 billion dollars alone. China spent $12 billion, and the UK spent $10 billion last year. Every country with nuclear weapons is increasing how much they spend on their arsenals, and the report shows 11% growth across the board.

For the first time, ICAN also examined the hidden costs required to host nuclear weapons for other countries. With the US deploying nuclear weapons to Belgium, Germany, Italy, Türkiye and the Netherlands and the nuclear sharing agreement between Russia and Belarus- the financial cost to the citizens in those countries is largely kept hidden from citizens and legislators, avoiding democratic scrutiny.

Nuclear-armed Israel's attack today on Iran's nuclear facilities underlines the urgency of eliminating nuclear weapons and the need for all nuclear-armed states to disarm. The resources devoted to nuclear weapons must be redirected to funding activities that improve real human security and promote peace and sustainability.

The report profiles the companies heavily involved in the nuclear weapons industry and shows how in 2024, they earned more than $42 billion for their nuclear weapons activities. Many of these companies also invested in lobbying, and the report shows they spent $128 million on those efforts in the US and France, the two countries for which data is available.

Over the past five years, global spending on nuclear weapons has gone from $68 billion to $100 billion. Money that could have been used to fund measures to address the threats posed to our security by climate change and the loss of animal and plant species, or to provide funding for improving essential public goods, such as healthcare, housing and education. If these countries really cared about a secure future, they could have paid for almost 28 years of the UN budget for what they spent on nuclear weapons in 2024 alone.

Information is power. Countries that have nuclear weapons use those weapons to justify keeping secrets - from the public, from parliaments, from the world. Less information means less democratic oversight. Nuclear weapons take away democracy, but they cannot take away our power.

Thank you,

Susi Snyder & Alicia Sanders-Zakre
Co-Authors of Hidden Costs: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2024
ICAN