Which countries possess nuclear weapons?

A child pays respect at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Park. Image: REUTERS/Thin Lei Win

Arwen Armbrecht, Writer and social media producer, Freelance

On 6 August 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The United States would drop a second bomb on another Japanese city, Nagasaki, three days later. At that time, those were the only two functioning nuclear weapons in the world.

Whilst there are nine countries that possess nuclear weapons, a further five house the warheads, and 23 others are part of nuclear alliances.

Image: ICAN

Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, various treaties have lowered the number of nuclear warheads, as shown in this timeline.

Image: Source: Reuters

Have you read?

• These are the countries with nuclear weapons
• Why it’s time to ban the bomb
• Are fears of a new nuclear arms race overblown?

Originally published at www.weforum.org.