The 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 in 176 countries.  The NTI Index, prepared with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), is being created to spark an international discussion about priorities required to strengthen security and, most important, encourage governments to provide assurances and take actions to reduce risks.

Watch the NTI Index launch press conference.

The project draws on NTI’s nuclear expertise and 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 towards improved global nuclear materials security conditions, using five categories: 1) Quantities and Sites 2) Security and Control Measures 3) Global Norms 4) Domestic Commitments and Capacity and 5) Societal Factors.  An additional 144 states, with less than one kilogram of material or none at all, are assessed on the last three of these categories.  The NTI Index includes three elements:

• The print report with NTI findings and recommendations, a complete discussion of the EIU methodology, and selected data.
• A web site at www.ntiindex.org with high-level results in an easily accessible format, including all country summaries and interactive tools so visitors can determine their own priorities and weighting.
• A downloadable version of the NTI Index, available through the website, with complete results and data and extended interactive features, in an Excel format.

This project is co-led by Page Stoutland, vice president, nuclear materials program and Deepti Choubey, 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.