2,898 dollars per second

2,898 dollars per second. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), this is how much the nine nuclear-armed states* spent in 2023 on developing their nuclear arsenal, i.e., 85 billion euros (91.4 billion dollars), a 30% plus increase.

« A nuclear arms race is underway« , Melissa Parke of ICAN says. 2,100 nuclear warheads are ready for immediate use, almost all of them American and Russian.

According to the ICAN administrator, the funds spent on nuclear weapons represent more than what the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates is needed to put an end to hunger in the world. « And one million trees could be planted for every minute of the money spent on nuclear weapons« , she adds. True, this could be achieved. Provided we get rid of this capitalist system, in which the arms industry is a major ever-growing parasitic cog in the economy.

A.B.