Killer facts: The scale of the global arms trade

Weapons and ammunition in circulation

Total current military stocks of China, USA, Russia, India, France and UK:

• 15,426 Battle tanks
• 17,816 Armoured combat vehicles
• 36,621 Large calibre artillery systems
• 7,644 Combat aircraft
• 1,485 Attack helicopters
• 269 Warships
• 527 Heavy unmanned aerial vehicles [Source: The Military Balance]
• 875 million small arms and light weapons are estimated to be in circulation worldwide. [Source: Small Arms Survey]
• Between 700,000 and 900,000 small arms are produced annually. [Source: Small Arms Survey]

Value of transfers

• A definitive figure for the value of international conventional arms transfers is difficult to calculate with precision. In 2010, the total value, as recorded in national statistics, was approximately US $72 billion. Since then, it is estimated that it the arms trade has been approaching US $100 billion annually. [Source: Solutions, “The Arms Trade Treaty: Building a Path to Disarmament”, 2013]

 

• The annual authorized trade in small arms and light weapons exceeds US $8.5 billion. More than 1,000 companies from nearly 100 countries produce small arms and light weapons. [Source: Small Arms Survey]

Military expenditure

• Total global military expenditure has risen from US $1.14 trillion in 2001 to US $1.711 trillion in 2014, a rise of 50%. [Source: SIPRI – figures in constant 2011 prices/exchange rates]

 

• Military expenditure in the Middle East has grown from US $99 to US $173 billion during the same period, a rise of 75% [Source: SIPRI– figures in constant 2011 prices/exchange rates]

The top 10 importers and exporters of major arms, 2010–14

Exporter      Global share (%)
1. USA                  31
2. Russia              27
3. China                5
4. Germany           5
5. France               5
6. UK                     4
7. Spain                 3
8. Italy                   3
9. Ukraine             3
10. Israel               2

Importer        Global share (%)
1. India                  15
2. Saudi Arabia      5
3. China                  5
4. UAE                    4
5. Pakistan             4
6. Australia               4
7. Turkey                  3
8. USA                     3
9. South Korea         3
10. Singapore          3

[Source: SIPRI]

Armed violence

Globally, armed violence kills around 508,000 people every year, most in non-conflict settings.

High homicide rates have been estimated to cost the global economy just under US $2 trillion between 2000 and 2010 – 2.64% of the global output in 2010. [Source: Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, Global burden of Armed Violence 2015: Every body counts]