four infographics to understand everything – L’Express

In 1986, the world had a record 70,374 nuclear warheads – more than 40,000 were Soviet, the United States had 23,000. Since then, the global stockpile has continued to decline, year after year, thanks to arms control agreements signed by Moscow and Washington. For the year 2024, it stands at 12,121, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), an organization of independent researchers that is a reference for this type of assessment.

But appearances are deceptive. This decrease is essentially the result of the dismantling of American and Russian nuclear warheads withdrawn from service. That is, those that are no longer in military stocks, which include warheads considered operational (deployed in weapons) and those in reserve. In recent years, only the United States has continued to reduce its military stockpile, and only France and Israel have kept an equal number of warheads, according to the FAS.

A new nuclear race has in fact begun, while rivalries between powers are exacerbated as never before since the end of the Cold War. Satellite images have revealed that China has been pursuing an unprecedented expansion of its arsenal since the beginning of the 2020s, while its neighbor, North Korea, is also accumulating atomic bombs. Added to this is the war in Ukraine and the increasingly loud threats from Vladimir Putin.

Nuclear weapons – it must be remembered – are apart. Their destructive capabilities are such that a single bomb can destroy a large city.

Two nuclear-armed powers are therefore likely to be able to destroy each other, with the consequence of deterring any open conflict between them. But it is to be feared that a world with ever more states possessing ever more atomic bombs will one day put an end to the taboo on their use.

Our file can be found here:

EPISODE 1 – Nuclear weapons, the bidding war: how Ukraine had to give up its bomb

EPISODE 2 – Putin and the nuclear bomb: the risk of apocalypse

EPISODE 3 – China and its colossal nuclear arsenal: the inside story of Beijing’s mysterious expansion

EPISODE 4 – The United States’ titanic plan against Russia and China

EPISODE 5 – Nuclear weapons: North Korea’s inevitable atomic test

EPISODE 6 – Nuclear weapons: can France play a deterrent role for the whole of Europe?