China increases nuclear warhead stockpile by 20 to 620, SIPRI report finds

The Stockholm peace research institute's 2026 yearbook flags China as the fastest-expanding nuclear arsenal on the planet, while global disarmament commitments erode.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team Jun. 9, 2026

China’s nuclear warhead inventory has grown to approximately 620 as of January 2026, according to the latest yearbook from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That’s an increase of 20 warheads from the 600 estimated in early 2025, cementing China’s status as the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal among the world’s nine nuclear-armed states.

What SIPRI actually found

The SIPRI Yearbook 2026, released on June 8, breaks down China’s nuclear growth into two categories that matter: deployed warheads and operational forces rose to around 34, up from 24 the previous year. Stored warheads climbed from 576 to 586.

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The modernization goes beyond raw numbers. SIPRI flagged the construction of new intercontinental ballistic missile silo fields in northern and eastern desert and mountainous regions of the country. Hundreds of missiles are being loaded into these facilities, a pace that outstrips every other nuclear power on the planet.

The collective inventory of nuclear warheads held by all nine nuclear-armed states sits at approximately 12,187 worldwide.

The disarmament era is ending

SIPRI’s report paints a broader picture that’s arguably more unsettling than any single country’s warhead count. Major nuclear powers are, in the institute’s framing, “walking away” from disarmament commitments as the era of the New START treaty concludes.

New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the US and Russia, has been a cornerstone of nonproliferation architecture for over a decade. Its effective end removes the guardrails that kept the two largest nuclear arsenals in check.

China has never been party to bilateral US-Russia arms control treaties, which means its expansion happens in a regulatory vacuum. There’s no treaty framework compelling Beijing to cap, declare, or reduce its stockpile.

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