Nuclear Weapons Spending Grew for the Fourth
Year in a Row While Global Security Has Decreased
Alicia Sanders-Zakre / International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

(June 12, 2023) — $157,664 per minute on nuclear weapons, that’s what the nine-nuclear armed states spent in 2022. In total, the nuclear-armed states spent $82.9 billion on nuclear weapons in a year when the general public was confronted with a very real threat of nuclear war.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, and threats to use nuclear weapons laid bare the inherent risks and dangers of nuclear deterrence theory in preserving international peace and security. Yet, politicians, CEOs, and experts continued to tout the value of nuclear deterrence, and argued for an increased reliance on nuclear weapons. ICAN’s new report: “Wasted: 2022 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending” exposes those complicit actors.

Why? Because behind the scenes, throughout 2022, nuclear-armed countries poured their resources into expanding and maintaining nuclear weapons, while nuclear weapon producing companies and countries in nuclear alliances did their best to sell deterrence by funding think tanks and lobbyists.

Board members at nuclear weapons producing companies played an integral role in keeping the money flowing to weapons of mass destruction — sitting on boards of banks that lend to them and major think tanks researching and writing about nuclear weapons.

Help Share this Report
Did you know that last year, the world’s nuclear-armed countries spent a whopping $82.9 billion on their arsenals? That’s over $157,000 per minute on weapons that should NEVER be used. And the worst part? This increase could have provided clean water sanitation for 40 million people or paid the salaries of 739,000 nurses.
Let’s demand accountability and ask: What were they thinking? Share this post with your friends and let’s spread awareness! #NuclearBan #GlobalSpending #NursesNotNukes 

You can use the post above directly to Facebook or find your social media of choice here. Thank you for your support.

Wasted: 2022 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending
In its report “Wasted: 2022 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending” the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons shows in 2022, the year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nine nuclear-armed states spent $82.9 billion on their nuclear weapons, more than $157,000 per minute, an overall increase of $2.5 billion from 2021.

Nine countries spent $82.9 billion on nuclear weapons, of which the private sector earned at least $29 billion in 2022. The United States spent more than all of the other nuclear armed states combined, $43.7 billion. Russia spent 22% of what the U.S. did, at $9.6 billion, and China spent just over a quarter of the U.S. total, at $11.7 billion.

This is the fourth annual report documenting massive investments in global nuclear weapons spending. Through an ever-changing and challenging security environment, from security threats of climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nuclear weapons spending has steadily increased, with no resulting measurable improvement on the security environment. If anything, the situation is getting worse.

As companies throw money at lobbyists and researchers to assert the continued relevance and value of nuclear weapons, the record shows the inutility of weapons of mass destruction to address modern security challenges — and the legitimate fear, backed by peer-reviewed scientific evidence, that they can end global civilisation as we know it.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the multilateral response to the irresponsible behaviour of all nuclear-armed states to pour money down their nuclear weapons drains. It is the normative barricade against threats to use nuclear weapons. All countries should join this landmark international instrument to prohibit the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons and prevent their eventual use by ensuring their elimination.

Executive Summary
In 2022, nuclear-armed states spent five thousand more dollars per minute on their nuclear arsenals than the year before, a total of $157,664 per minute on nuclear weapons. Nine countries spent $82.9 billion in 2022 on nuclear weapons, of which the private sector earned at least $29 billion.

The United States spent more than all of the other nuclear-armed states combined, at $43.7 billion. Russia spent 22% of what the US did, at $9.6 billion, and China spent just over a quarter of the U.S. total, at $11.7 billion.

There are at least $278.6 billion in outstanding nuclear weapons contracts, some of which don’t expire for decades. In 2022, at least $15.9 billion in new nuclear weapon contracts were awarded. The companies that received them turned around and invested in lobbying governments, spending $113 million on those efforts in the US and France. Together, nuclear weapon producing companies, nuclear-armed governments and those in nuclear alliances spent $21-36 million funding the ten of the most prominent think tanks researching and writing about nuclear weapons in nuclear-armed states.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and overt threats to use nuclear weapons have induced fear across the planet, but have also spurred a resilience and re-thinking of outdated concepts like nuclear deterrence. Those whose incomes depend on the existence of nuclear weapons fiercely defended the right of nine countries to indiscriminately murder civilians with weapons of mass destruction, but a majority are going in another direction.

In June 2022, more than sixty states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons gathered in Vienna. In an incredibly inclusive meeting, they engaged with those impacted by decades of nuclear weapons production and development, youth destined to inherit the last generation’s contaminating nuclear legacy, and financiers who know there is power and profit to be found by avoiding the nuclear industry.

This meeting adopted the most comprehensive and coordinated action plan on nuclear disarmament in the past decade, and they are well on their way to implementing its agreements.

The nine nuclear-armed states may have wasted $157,644 a minute on nuclear weapons in 2022, but no matter how much they spend, their nuclear weapons remain tools of terror and intimidation propped up by a mythical tale of deterrence that is rapidly unraveling.

Click here to download the full report

Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.