John Summer |
Geneva, (EFE) to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
The year the war in Ukraine began, the nine countries with confirmed atomic weapons (the US, China, Russia, the UK, France, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea) invested an average of $157,664 every minute in this type of armament.
In total, there are currently 12,500 nuclear weapons worldwide, of which 5,244 are in the hands of the United States.
By country, the United States was the country that spent the most money on nuclear arsenals (43.7 billion dollars), well above China, the second in the ranking with 11.7 billion dollars spent, although with a much smaller arsenal (410 weapons). nuclear).
Despite their large absolute figures in terms of investment, ICAN estimates that neither the US nor China dedicated more than 5% of their military budget to nuclear weapons, while other atomic powers such as Russia managed to exceed 10%.
Russia, third in the ranking
Russia was also the third country that spent the most money last year on nuclear weapons, with 9.6 billion dollars.
The country presided over by Vladimir Putin was the main focus of concern for the international community in 2022 with regard to nuclear panic, due to its repeated threats to use this weapon.
This, ICAN points out, increased the public’s fear of an atomic confrontation, mainly in Europe, where the nuclear alarm produced an increase in the demand for iodine pills -which can be used to treat radiation- or for underground shelters.
According to ICAN, a coalition of organizations that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, Russia currently possesses 5,889 nuclear weapons, which it could launch both through land-based missiles and from submarines or aircraft.
According to the report, Russian spending on nuclear weapons accounted for 11% of the country’s total military spending, although this implied a decrease of two percentage points compared to the same figure between 2010 and 2016, when it was 13%.
The ICAN report attributes this decline to the substantial increase in Russian military spending on other sectors of its military over the past year because of the war in Ukraine.
The US decreases its spending, but continues to lead
As for the rest of the nuclear-armed countries, the United Kingdom spent $6.8 billion, France $5.6 billion, India $2.7 billion, Israel $1.2 billion, Pakistan $1 billion and North Korea $589 million.
According to ICAN, nuclear spending increased last year in all the countries analyzed except the United States, which invested 500 million dollars less in this type of arsenal but continues to spend more than the rest of the other countries on the list combined. .
ICAN, based in Geneva, works to promote the adherence of all the countries of the world to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, promoted by the United Nations.
Currently, its members include more than 680 civil society organizations from 107 countries.
Third consecutive increase
For four years, the campaign has published its report on nuclear spending in the world annually, and in 2022 this figure increased for the third consecutive year.
According to the authors of the report, the 82.9 billion dollars spent last year on the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons could have ensured the vaccination against covid-19 of at least 2,000 million people.
The data from the ICAN study show that the arms companies involved in the production of this type of arsenal were the most benefited by the global increase in spending, receiving almost 16,000 million dollars from the States through contracts.
According to the coalition, a second beneficiary of the climate of generalized tension are the different “think-tanks”, which receive payments from companies in the sector and countries to influence politics and public opinion.
Opposition from the UN and most countries
“It is terrible that these nine countries spent 82.9 billion dollars (…). The arms industry takes about 35% of this money while telling its shareholders that lobbying against nuclear disarmament is good for business,” lamented ICAN program coordinator Susi Snyder.
“Fortunately, investors who see a significant risk in weapons and abandon their participation in these companies are more and more,” he said in a press release.
Another of the report’s authors, Alicia Sanders-Zakre, drew attention to the fact that most UN member countries reject “the tools of terror and intimidation” that are nuclear weapons and are collaborating with each other and with ICAN to end its existence forever.