India has more nuclear warheads than Pakistan, China far ahead: Global arms watchdog

Although India has a slight edge over Pakistan in terms of the number of nuclear warheads, it is far behind China, said the global arms watchdog Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, on Monday.

According to the organisation’s assessment, India has 180 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170.

China is estimated to have 600 nuclear warheads as of January. Of these, 24 are deployed warheads, which means that they are either placed on missiles or are located at bases with operational forces.

Nine countries currently have nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. Of these, Russia, with 5,459 warheads, and the United States, with 5,177, have the largest total nuclear inventories.

India is believed to have slightly expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continues to develop new types of nuclear delivery systems, SIPRI said in its yearbook on Monday.

“India’s new ‘canisterised’ missiles, which can be transported with mated warheads, may be capable of carrying nuclear warheads during peacetime, and possibly even multiple warheads on each missile, once they become operational,” it said.

The organisation made a note of last month’s four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.

In this context, Matt Korda, the associate senior researcher with...

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