While the “international community” is focused on ensuring Iran doesn’t get its hands on a nuclear weapon, today’s chart of the day looks at just how well-armed some of its members are.
Under the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, there are officially only five “nuclear-weapon states” (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US) but four states that were not party to the treaty – India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea – have since acquired nuclear weapons.
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South Africa became the first country to voluntarily give up its nuclear weapons in 1989, followed by the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, whose warheads were transferred to Russia in 1995-96.
Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan and South Korea all gave up secret nuclear weapons programmes.