Global arms trade shows increase in the last five years
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The largest exporters of weapons in the last five years were the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China.
The report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) compares arms trade deal data collected between 2015 to 2019, to that between 2010 to 2014.
It shows that Middle Eastern countries have been buying more weapons than before, with Saudi Arabia being the biggest importer worldwide.
Several other European countries are in the top ten of arms exporters, including the UK (3.7 per cent), Spain (3.1 per cent) and Italy (2.1 per cent).
The US has strongly profited from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and the increasing demand for its military aircraft in other regions, such as Europe, Japan and Taiwan. More than every third weapon on this planet has been manufactured in the US, new data shows. The country holds a 36 per cent market share and is exporting arms into 96 countries overall. That is an increase of five per cent in total share and 23 per cent in volume, compared to the five years prior.
All in all, European countries accounted for more than a quarter of the global arms trade.
France’s arms trade increased drastically by 72 per cent between 2015 and 2019, compared to the previous five years. It accounts for 7.9 per cent of the global arms trade.
France delivered major arms to 75 states in the last five years and increased its exports to the middle east by 363 per cent.
Meanwhile, Germany’s arms exports increased by 17 per cent in the last five years, placing it fourth among arms exporting countries. Despite the country’s halt on exports to Saudi Arabia, Germany has made several other controversial deals in the last years, f.ex. with Algeria and Egypt.
Germany’s best arms client is, however, South Korea, which has received four German submarines since 2015. South Korea is followed by Greece and Algeria.
Meanwhile, British arms exports fell by 15 per cent, mainly as a result of fewer deals with Saudi Arabia, India and the US.
At the same time, European countries have started to buy more arms again. While arm imports had fallen by 27 per cent between 2005-2009 and 2010-14, they ended up being 3.2 per cent higher in this last five-year period.
