India has sixth highest nuclear weapons stockpile, United States tops: SIPRI Yearbook 2021

India has sixth highest nuclear weapons stockpile, United States tops: SIPRI Yearbook 2021

• The Swedish think tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released the SIPRI Yearbook 2021 on 14 June 2021.
• The SIPRI Yearbook assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security.
• As per the report, the number of nuclear weapons in India has increased to 156 in January 2021, as compared to the 150 weapons in January 2020.
• This places India at sixth place globally in the list.

• The United States continues to posses highest nuclear warheads, having 5550 in January 2021, however this is a decrease from 5800, possessed by the country in January 2020.
• The nine nuclear-armed states, namely, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), together possessed an estimated 13,080 nuclear weapons in January 2021. This marked is a decrease from the 13,400 that these states possessed in January 2020.

Source: SIPRI