9 countries in the world have nuclear weapons. These countries are America, Russia, England, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. In this, Russia has made the maximum number of nuclear weapons. It has a stockpile of 5580 nuclear weapons. After this comes America, which has 5044 nuclear weapons. Overall, the whole world has 12,121 nuclear weapons, of which Russia and America have 90%.
Now the question arises that why only 9 countries like America, Russia, China and India made nuclear weapons? Apart from these countries, there are many countries which are second to none in terms of military power and economy. Despite this, these countries have not made nuclear bombs for themselves and these countries are keeping themselves unarmed, let us know…
This is the treaty to ban nuclear weapons
Germany, South Korea, Japan and Australia are countries which are very powerful. Despite this, these countries do not have nuclear weapons. Behind this is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). To protect the world from the threat of nuclear weapons, this treaty was adopted in 1968 and came into force in 1970. Till now 190 countries have signed this treaty. This treaty was created to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and curb nuclear tests. Under this treaty, only America, Russia, Britain, China and France have the right to possess nuclear weapons, because these are the countries which had already conducted nuclear tests before the treaty came into force.
So the rest of the countries are unarmed?
Now you must be wondering what will happen if a nuclear power country attacks a country which does not have nuclear weapons? In fact, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty assures non-nuclear power countries that when such a country is attacked, the friendly countries with nuclear power will protect it. This was seen in the fifties when the war between North Korea and South Korea started, then America and the UN intervened militarily.
How did India and Pakistan make weapons?
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows only America, Russia, Britain, China and France to possess nuclear weapons. In such a situation, the question arises that how did India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel make nuclear weapons? Actually, India and Pakistan never signed this treaty. Also, North Korea was earlier a part of this treaty, but later after conducting nuclear tests, this country came out of this treaty. Similarly, Israel also tested these nuclear weapons secretly.
Also read: How is a nuclear bomb made, what materials are required?
