The estimated number of warheads in military stockpiles rose 86 to 9,576, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement on Monday, continuing a trend seen for the last few years.

SIPRI Director Dan Smith said the world is drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history. He said it is imperative that the world's governments find ways to cooperate in order to calm geopolitical tensions, slow arms races, and deal with the worsening consequences of environmental breakdown and rising world hunger.

The nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2022, according to SIPRI.