India's n-stockpile larger than Pak's

India has more nuclear weapons than Pakistan, but Beijing's strategic arsenal is bigger than New Delhi's, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in a new yearbook released on Monday.

- Rahul Singh

NEW DELHI:

It pegged the number of nuclear warheads in the Indian arsenal at 180 as of January 2025 compared to 172 a year earlier, while Pakistan is estimated to have 170 nuclear weapons -- the same as last year. China's arsenal consisted of 600 nuclear warheads in January 2025, up from 500 last year.

SIPRI revises its world nuclear forces data every year based on new information.

The latest report comes after India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 and struck premises of terrorist groups and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the Pahalgam terror strike in which 26 people were shot dead. It triggered a four-day military confrontation with Pakistan involving fighter jets, missiles, drones, long-range weapons and heavy artillery.

Russia and the US have the biggest arsenals among the nine nuclear-armed states -- 5,459 and 5,177 respectively, the report said.