Israel is the world's eighth nuclear power, according to a report published by the American Federation of Scientists, a nonprofit policy research and advocacy organization, which tracks global nuclear arsenals, titled "Status of the World's Nuclear Forces."
The ranking is dominated by Russia and the United States, who possess in 2022 respectively 5,428 and 5,977 nuclear warheads, out of 13,000 units in the world.
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Russia tests ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warhead on Wednesday
(Photo: Reuters)
China follows with 350 nuclear warheads, France (290), the United Kingdom (225), Pakistan (165), India (160), Israel (90) and North Korea (20).
For its part, Iran has been striving for several years to become the tenth nuclear power in the world.
In 1987, at the end of the Cold War, the world had more than 70,000 nuclear warheads, or 5.5 times more than today.
"Globally, the overall inventory of nuclear weapons is declining, but the pace of reductions is slowing compared with the past 30 years. Moreover, these reductions are happening only because the United States and Russia are still dismantling previously retired warheads," the report said.
"The United States is still reducing its nuclear stockpile slowly. France and Israel have relatively stable inventories. But China, India, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, as well as possibly Russia, are all thought to be increasing their stockpiles."