On June 17, the International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons released its fifth annual report on nuclear weapons spending, “Surge: 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending.” Here’s what you need to know:
Country spending in 2023:
• China $11,850,032,735- $376/second
• France $6,060,606,061 – $192/ second
• India $2,657,874,340 – $84/second
• Israel $1,090,804,771 – $35/second
• North Korea $856,333,333 – $27/second
• Pakistan $1,011,005,630 – $32/ second
• Russia $8,308,544,638 – $263/second
• UK $8,058,218,532 – $256/ second
• US $51,500,000,000 – $1,633/second
The grand total of $91,393,420,041 amounts to $2,898/second spent on nuclear weapons in 2023.
The total is $10.8 billion more than in 2022. The United States spent more than all of the other nuclear-armed states combined and showed the biggest one-year increase ($51.5 billion).
The report also shows that total nuclear weapons spending in the last five years was more than $387 billion, more than what the World Food Programme estimates it would take to end world hunger.
Of that, companies got about 30% of all spending, and turned around to hire at least 450 lobbyists as well as provide financing for major think tanks to influence the nuclear debate.
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