New SIPRI Data on International Arms Transfers and Trends

On 20th February the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) launched the data on International Arms Transfers and their Trends.

According to them, “the volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 per cent between 2007–11 and 2012–16. Notably, transfers of major weapons in 2012–16 reached their highest volume for any five-year period since the end of the cold war.”

Arms transfers have increased to Asia and Oceania and the Middle East, while there was a decrease in the flow to Europe, the Americas and Africa. The five biggest exporters – the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany – together accounted for 74 per cent of the total volume of arms exports.

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