Why fewer navies operate aircraft carriers today

Why do fewer countries operate aircraft carriers than in the early and middle Cold War?

Budget cuts and confidence in missile supremacy reduced fleets, but wars repeatedly showed that crewed aircraft and carriers retained important roles.

Many governments expected a more peaceful world and cut carriers to save money while assuming they could choose the wars they fought. Advocates also repeatedly claimed that missiles would destroy aircraft so easily that crewed aviation and carriers had lost their purpose. The Falklands War, Gulf War, and later fighting showed aircraft continuing to operate in dense threat environments. The broader lesson is that new weapons usually modify existing military functions rather than instantly erasing them, just as tanks restored mobility under modern firepower instead of inventing maneuver warfare from nothing.