The world arms trade knows no crisis and has increased in value in recent years despite the full pandemic. The reference data is that of the Yearbook 2021, produced by Sipri, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and provides answers to questions that are more relevant than ever, such as: how much is global arms import/export worth and which countries are buying? and sell more guns?
Regarding the supply and purchase of weapons systems worldwide, Money.it explains, international trade remains at a fairly high level in the fiveyear period 20162020 calculated by Sipri.
The top 5 arms exporting countries were the US, Russia, France, Germany and China, which together accounted for 76% of the total volume of world exports.
Collectively, Canada, the US and European countries with Russia accounted for 86% of the sector’s global exports.
It’s Italy? Italy is also among the ten countries with the most arms sales, as shown by the ranking of the most important exporting countries 20162020 (with percentage of total exports):
1st use, 37%
2. Russia, 20%
3. France, 8.2%
4. Germany, 5.5%
5. China, 5.2%
6. United Kingdom, 3.3%
7. Spain, 3.2%
8. Israel, 3.0%
9. South Korea, 2.7%
10. Italy, 2.2%
Who buys the most guns? The 10 nations that bought the most weapons between 2016 and 2020 were (with share of total imports):
1. Saudi Arabia, 11%
2. India, 9.5%
3. Egypt, 5.8%
4. Australia, 5.1%
5. China, 4.7%
6. Algeria, 4.3%
7. South Korea, 4.3%
8. Qatar, 3.8%
9. United Arab Emirates, 3.0%
10. Pakistan, 2.7%
The total value of the global arms trade was estimated at $118 billion in 2019. The world’s 25 largest arms and military services companies generated sales of $361 billion that year.