WASHINGTON – The US State Department on Tuesday disclosed the number of nuclear weapons in the country stockpiles.
The number of US weapons, including those in active status as well as those in long-term storage, stood at 3,750 as of September 2020, the department said. That is down from 3,805 a year earlier and 3,785 in 2018.
As recently as 2003, the US nuclear weapon total was slightly above 10,000. It peaked at 31,255 in 1967.
The State Department said this will aid global efforts to control the spread of such weapons.
The last time the US government released its stockpile number was in March 2018.
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According to a January 2021 tally by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which includes retired warheads — not counted in the State Department’s numbers — the United States had 5,550 warheads, compared to 6,255 in Russia, 350 in China, 225 in Britain, and 290 in France.
India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have together around 460 nuclear warheads, according to the institute.
