About the NTI Index
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Nuclear Materials Security Index is a first-of-its-kind public benchmarking project of nuclear materials security conditions on a country-by-country basis. The NTI Index, prepared with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), was created to spark an international discussion about priorities required to strengthen security, and most importantly, encourage governments to provide assurances and take actions to reduce risks.
The project draws on NTI’s nuclear expertise, the EIU’s experience in constructing indices, and the reach of the EIU’s global network of 900 analysts and contributors. NTI—working with an international panel of nuclear security experts and a number of technical advisors—focused on the framework and priorities that define effective nuclear materials security conditions. The EIU was responsible for developing the Excel-based model and gathering the data.
The NTI Index assesses the contribution of 32 states with one kilogram or more of weapons-usable nuclear materials toward improved global nuclear materials security conditions, using five categories: (a) Quantities and Sites, (b) Security and Control Measures, (c) Global Norms, (d) Domestic Commitments and Capacity, and (e) Societal Factors. An additional 144 states, with less than one kilogram of weapons-usable nuclear materials or none at all, are assessed on the last three of these categories.
The Index includes three elements:
- The print report, with NTI findings and recommendations, a complete discussion of the EIU methodology, and selected data
- The website with high-level results in an easily accessible format, including all country summaries and interactive tools that allow visitors to determine their own priorities and weighting of categories and indicators.
- A downloadable version of the NTI Index with complete results and data and extended interactive features, in an Excel format
This project is co-led by Page Stoutland, NTI Vice President for Nuclear Materials Programs, and Deepti Choubey, NTI Senior Director for Nuclear and Bio-Security. NTI thanks the funders who supported this project: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
Notes about the NTI Index
The NTI Index addresses only weapons-usable nuclear materials. In various parts of the site, the model and the print report, we use the term “countries with materials” or “countries without materials.” In these and all similar cases, NTI is referring to weapons-usable nuclear materials.