The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute launched its annual set of nuclear forces data, which highlights current trends and developments in world nuclear arsenals. The data shows that while the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world continues to decline, none of the nuclear weapon-possessing states are prepared to give up their nuclear arsenals in the foreseeable future.

At the start of 2016, nine states -- the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea --possessed approximately 4,120 operationally deployed nuclear weapons. If all nuclear warheads are counted, these states together possessed approximately 15,395 nuclear weapons, compared to 15,850 in early 2015.