The five countries that could go nuclear next - and how worried we should be

As wars and predator states reshape the world order, fears are growing that a new nuclear arms race is already under way.

Agreements between the great powers over the control of nuclear weapons are breaking down. Middle powers, from South Korea to Saudi Arabia, are considering radical solutions to their security concerns.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which binds 190 countries to the status quo of restricting nuclear weapons to the handful of states that already possess them, has largely held for a generation. North Korea is the only new nuclear power of the 21st century.

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Dr Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher into weapons of mass destruction at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), noted a rise in “magic wand thinking”, with several governments openly discussing nuclear development. “There is this idea that nuclear weapons just work automatically to protect you, when the reality is more complicated,” he said.