List of Countries Possessing Nuclear Weapons

List of Countries Possessing Nuclear Weapons

S. No.	Year of First Nuclear Test	Country / State	Status / Notes
1	1945	United States	NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon state; conducted the world's first nuclear test, Trinity, on 16 July 1945.
2	1949	Russia (formerly the Soviet Union)	NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon state; conducted its first nuclear test in 1949.
3	1952	United Kingdom	NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon state; conducted its first nuclear test in 1952.
4	1960	France	NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon state; conducted its first nuclear test in 1960.
5	1964	China	NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon state; conducted its first nuclear test in 1964.
6	1974	India	Possesses nuclear weapons; conducted its first nuclear explosive test in 1974 and further tests in 1998. Not a party to the NPT.
7	1998	Pakistan	Possesses nuclear weapons; conducted its first publicly acknowledged series of nuclear tests in May 1998. Not a party to the NPT.
8	Not publicly confirmed	Israel	Widely believed to possess nuclear weapons but maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity and has not officially confirmed its arsenal.
9	2006	North Korea (DPRK)	Conducted its first nuclear test in 2006; announced its withdrawal from the NPT in 2003.

Notes:

As of 2026, nine countries are assessed to possess nuclear weapons. SIPRI Yearbook 2026 provides a detailed assessment of global nuclear forces.
The five nuclear-weapon states recognised under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China.
India, Pakistan and Israel are outside the NPT framework as non-parties. North Korea announced its withdrawal from the treaty in 2003.
Iran is not included in this list because it is not established to possess a nuclear weapon.
The year of a country's first nuclear test is not necessarily the year it developed or acquired its first weapon.

Official and reference sources: