The issue is alarming, and the numbers are mind-boggling. Last year, that is in 2024, the nine nuclear-armed countries spent more than $100 billion on nuclear arsenal. That’s nearly 2bn per week, $274m per day, and $3,169 per second.
Nuclear weapons by themselves are dreadful. Eighty years ago, the world saw the devastating impact when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- a dreadful act against humanity.
But the world has not taken any lessons from that heinous event and today, nine countries boast of being the proud owners of nuclear weapons. Of these nine countries, five are from developing countries, wherems of people live in extreme poverty, millions suffer from hunger, and many more are marginalized and vulnerable.
Yet, the race for nuclear weapons continues.
Of the nine countries, the United States spent the most, $57bn -- more than the total of the other eight countries and more than half of the total spending. With $2.6bn spending on nuclear weapons, India spent more than twice of Pakistan at $1.1bn. But in the same year, a total of nearly 175 million people were living in extreme poverty in India and Pakistan together. In India, 195 million people were undernourished and 12 million people in Pakistan faced acute food insecurity.
Cumulatively, over a span of five years -- from 2020 to 2024 -- these nine countries have spent $416bn on nuclear arsenals -- only $50bn less than that of the GDP of Bangladesh. Nuclear-armed countries could have paid the United Nations budget 28 times with what they have spent to build and maintain nuclear weapons.
Of the total of $416bn that the nuclear-armed countries have spent on nuclear weapons over the past five year, the United States spent the most, $237bn (about 57% of the total). In terms of increases, over the time period of 2020-2024, the United States increased its spending by 106%, followed by the United Kingdom, and France.
Globally, there are at least 26 companies working on nuclear weapons development and maintenance. In 2024, these companies earned at least $44bn and held at least $463bn in outstanding contracts. In 2024, new contracts worth $20bn were awarded to these companies. These companies are alleged to have paid lobbyists in nuclear-armed countries more than $128m to represent their interests last year.
Against this backdrop, let us ask ourselves a question. If nuclear weapons were neither built nor maintained, with the available money, what could the world have done on the human development front, ensuring the well-being of people?
Eliminating extreme poverty globally by 2030 would cost from $70bn to $325bn annually, a major part of which could have been financed by the resources going to the nuclear arsenal production, maintenance by the state, and the private companies.
The exact figure would depend on different scenarios involving different approaches to eliminating poverty. A total of $264bn can end preventable maternal deaths, cover all unmet needs for family planning, and put a stop to gender-based violence around the world.
The children of the world face early deaths because of a lack of immunization. Universal immunization by 2030 can be ensured through spending ranging from $71bn to $84bn. The spending will cover both the purchases of immunizing medicines as well as their delivery.
Ending global hunger by 2030 would require an expenditure spanning from $267bn to $330bn annually. If they focus on tackling extreme hunger, that may cost $23bn per year. Chronic hunger would cost even less -- $14bn annually.
This becomes even more important and relevant given that today, about 155 million people face the risk of acute food insecurity in 13 hotspots of the world. Out of the 155 million people suffering acute food shortages, 85 million -- more than half of them -- are concentrated in three countries, Nigeria (31 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (28 million) and Sudan (25 million). There are fears of famine in some of the countries. Just think, what money saved from not pursuing the nuclear weapon path could do.
Thus, the goals of ending human impoverishment are within the reach of humanity. Yet, around the world, we observe a new surge of renewed militarism. This is reflected on two fronts.
First, both the defense and nuclear weapons expenditures, production, and trade are on the rise. Global defense expenditures rose to $2,718bn, and the spending has increased every year for a full decade, going up by 37% between 2015 and 2024. Today, about 3% of global GDP goes to defense spending.
Average military expenditure as a share of government expenditure rose to 7.4% in 2024 and the world military spending per person at $334 was the highest since 1990. In recent times, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the NATO members of Europe have all agreed to boost defense expenditures. For example, both the United Kingdom and the European members of NATO have declared that they would increase their defense expenditure to 5% of GDP.
Second, within the overall defense expenditures, spending on nuclear arsenals is significant. For example, the United Kingdom spends 13% of its total defense spendings on nuclear arsenals, France 11% and Pakistan 10%. As far as the United States are concerned, of the $1000bn that it spends on defense, 6% are on nuclear weapons.
With intense wars and conflicts around the world, the threat of nuclear use persists, as several nuclear-armed countries wage wars and the issue of implicit and explicit threats to use these weapons of mass destruction. There have been suggestions of new nuclear sharing arrangements, which is alarming, because it may enhance the threat of nuclear weapons use as such weapons may end up in the wrong hands.
Yet, the story of the nuclear-armed countries is the tale of the world’s minority. Only nine of 195 countries (less than 5%) have chosen to develop nuclear weapons. In contrast, nearly 100 countries, 98 to be exact, have signed ratified or acceded to the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear-weapons (TPNW), banning all nuclear weapons activities and committing to work towards their destruction. These countries have also pledged to work to eliminate nuclear weapons.
More than 700 organizations in over 110 countries have committed to work alongside them to get more countries to join this landmark instrument. Today, with nuclear tensions at a new height, people, civil society, and the world's majority of the governments should work to eliminate this threat once and for all.
Dr Selim Jahan is the Former Director, Human Development Report Office and Poverty Division, United Nations Development Program, New York, USA.
