How many nuclear weapons does the United States of America possess?

THE United States of America, which is currently the world's foremost superpower, was the first nation to develop a nuclear arsenal in 1945.

For a number of years, the USA was the only nuclear power in the world before being matched by the Soviet Union in 1949.

This intensified the Cold War, leading to an arms race between the two nations.

How many nuclear weapons does the United States have?

America is one of the world's biggest nuclear powers (Image: Getty Images) At the time of writing, the United States has a stockpile of around 3700 nuclear weapons.

Since 1945, the nation has developed more than 70,000 warheads and has conducted around 1054 nuclear tests.

This means the US has the second biggest nuclear arsenal in the world, placing it behind Russia, which has over 5500 warheads.

How many nuclear weapons does the UK have?

The United Kingdom, which was the third nation in the world to develop nuclear weapons, currently has around 225 warheads.

This represents a significant drop from the country's peak stockpile of 520 in the 1970s.

Since 1998, the UK has relied solely on Trident submarines as its delivery system with these being based in Scotland.

Which countries around the world have nuclear weapons?

The UK currently has around 225 nuclear warheads (Image: James Glossop/The Times/PA Wire) These are all the countries around the world that possess nuclear weapons in order of when they developed them.

• The United States of America (USA) - 1945
• Russian Federation (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - USSR) - 1949
• United Kingdom - 1952
• France - 1960
• People's Republic of China - 1964

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Which countries around the globe have nuclear weapons? All you need to know

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• India - 1974
• Pakistan - 1998
• Israel - between 1960 and 1979 (first successful test unknown)
• North Korea - 2006

There are only nine countries around the world recognised as having nuclear weapons.