Nuclear-weapon-free zone

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     Nuclear-weapon-free zones      NW states      Nuclear sharing      NPT only
Treaty Region Land km² States Date in force
Antarctic Antarctica 14,000,000 1961-06-23
Space Outer Space 1967-10-10
Tlatelolco Latin America
21,069,501 33 1969-04-25
Seabed Seabed 1972-05-18
Bangkok ASEAN 4,465,501 10 1997-03-28[2]
MNWFS Mongolia 1,564,116 1 2000-02-28
Pelindaba Africa 30,221,532 53 2009-07-15
All NWFZs combined: 84,000,000 115 39% world pop
Nuclear weapons states 41,400,000 9 47% world pop
Neither NWS nor NWFZ 24,000,000 68 14% world pop

A nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) is defined[4] by the United Nations as an agreement which a group of states has freely established by treaty or convention, that bans the use, development, or deployment of nuclear weapons in a given area, that has mechanisms of verification and control to enforce its obligations, and that is recognized as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations. NWFZs have a similar purpose to, but are distinct from, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which all countries except for four nuclear weapons states are party. Another term, nuclear-free zone, often means an area which has banned both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and sometimes nuclear waste and nuclear propulsion, and usually does not mean a UN-acknowledged international treaty.


Today there are five zones covering continental or subcontinental groups of countries (including their territorial waters and airspace), one UN-recognized zone consisting of a single country, Mongolia, and three governing Antarctica, the seabed, and outer space which are not part of any state. The Antarctic, seabed, and space zones preceded all but one of the zones on national territories. Most of the Earth's oceans above the seabed are not covered by NWFZs since freedom of the seas restricts restrictions in international waters.




The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like Austria with the Atomsperrgesetz in 1999; also, the 2+4 Treaty, at the end of the Cold War, banned nuclear weapons in the six states, which joined to Germany 1990 (area of Berlin and former East Germany), but was an agreement only among the four Allies and two German states.

Nuclear weapons states' territories within NWFZs
Treaty British French American
Tlatelolco Anguilla, Virgin Is.
Caymans, Turks&Caicos
Falklands, S. Georgia
Guadeloupe, Martinique
St. Barthélemy, St. Martin
Puerto Rico
Virgin Is.
Rarotonga Pitcairn Island Polynésie, Wallis&Futuna
Samoa, Jarvis Island
Pelindaba Indian Ocean Territory Réunion, Mayotte
Îles Éparses

NWFZs do cover most territories belonging to nuclear weapons states that are situated inside NWFZ boundaries; all are small islands except for French Guiana. However, the U.S. signed but has not ratified Protocol I to the Treaty of Rarotonga which would apply to American Samoa and Jarvis Island plus the U.S. and Britain dispute on the African NWFZ's applicability to Diego Garcia which has an American military base.

Regions without NWFZ[edit]

  Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones
  Neither NWS nor NWFZ, but NATO member
  Neither NWS nor NWFZ, but uses nuclear power
  Neither, but NATO member and uses nuclear power
  None of above, but party to Non-Proliferation Treaty


22 states are not part of a NWFZ or a collective security bloc nor nuclear weapons states, 12 in the Middle East, 6 in South Asia, and 4 in the former Soviet Union. There have been NWFZ proposals for the Middle East (e.g. Nuclear program of Iran#Nuclear Free Zone in the Mideast, 2009 UN proposal,[5] 2011 IAEA forum[6]),[7] the Korean Peninsula, Central Europe, South Asia, South-east Asia, and the Arctic.[8]

All countries without nuclear weapons are parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, as are the 5 NPT-sanctioned nuclear weapon states.



The other European countries west of the former Soviet Union are small Western European states are surrounded by and aligned with the EU and NATO but not members (Switzerland and European microstates Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Andorra), or Balkan states that have not yet joined the EU (Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo).

NATO also extends to Turkey and Canada.

Former Soviet Union[edit]

Belarus and Armenia, along with the five members of the Central Asian NWFZ, are allies of Russia in CSTO, the three Baltic states have joined NATO, and the GUAM states (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova) are not party to either security treaty.

North Pacific[edit]


South Asia[edit]

India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed states and the 5 other South Asian states (Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan) are not part of a NWFZ or security bloc.

Middle East[edit]

The 6 Gulf Cooperation Council states, the 5 other Arab League states outside Africa (Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq), and Iran (see Nuclear program of Iran) are not nuclear weapons states and not part of a NWFZ. The UN General Assembly has urged establishment of a Middle East NWFZ,[9] and NPT Review Conferences in 1995 and 2010 called for a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.[10][11][12] An International Conference For A WMD-Free Middle East was held in Haifa in December 2013 attended by citizens from all over the world concerned about the lack of progress in the official talks.




Because few prevailing winds cross the Equator, effects of nuclear explosions in the Northern Hemisphere might send less fallout to the Southern Hemisphere. (This fact was used in the book and film On the Beach, although there the Southern Hemisphere eventually succumbs as well.)

The five southern NWFZs cover Southern Hemisphere lands except East Timor which is in the process of joining ASEAN, and islands north of the 60th parallel south, east of the 20th meridian west, and west of the 115th meridian east, but outside of African, Australian or Indonesian territorial waters, which combined have less than 8000 km² of land area, mostly in Kerguelen:


Northern Hemisphere tropical lands not in a NWFZ
Region All of Parts of
Arabia Yemen Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Oman
South Asia Maldives, Sri Lanka Peninsular India, Bangladesh
China Hainan Yunnan, Guangdong/Xi, Taiwan



Nuclear power and programs[edit]

Nuclear power
Country Plants
Argentina 3
Brazil 2
Mexico 2
South Africa 2
For more details on this topic, see nuclear power by country.



Argentina and Brazil also have plans to build nuclear submarines.

See also[edit]


  7. ^
  11. ^ "Resolution on the Middle East". NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I), Annex. United Nations. 11 May 1995. Retrieved 30 December 2012. 

External resources[edit]