Published 13 March 2023 at 16.35
Foreign. European countries' imports of major weapons increased by 47 percent between the periods 2013–2017 and 2018–2022, while international arms transfers at a global level decreased by 5.1 percent. At the same time, the United States' share of world arms exports rose from 33 to 40 percent, while Russia's share fell from 22 to 16 percent, new figures from the peace research institute Sipri show.
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TwittraShare< p>Although arms transfers in the world have decreased overall, they have increased sharply to Europe due to the contradictions between Russia and most other European countries.
– As a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European countries want to import more weapons at a faster pace. Strategic rivalry continues elsewhere as well; East Asian arms imports have increased and imports to the Middle East remain at a high level, says Pieter Wezeman, researcher at Sipri's arms transfer research program.
World arms exports have long been dominated by the US and Russia, which have been the largest and second largest arms exporters over the past thirty years. However, the gap between the two has widened significantly, while it has narrowed between Russia and France, as the third largest exporter.
US arms exports increased by 14 percent between 2013–17 and 2018–22, and the United States accounted for 40 percent of the world's total arms exports in the period 2018–22. Russia's arms exports fell by 31 percent between 2013-17 and 2018-22 and its share of global arms exports fell from 22 to 16 percent, while France's share increased from 7.1 to 11 percent.
– It is likely that the invasion of Ukraine will further limit Russia's arms exports. This is because Russia prioritizes supplies to its own armed forces and that demand from other countries will remain low due to trade sanctions against Russia and increasing pressure from the US and its allies not to buy Russian weapons, says Siemon T. Wezeman, researcher at Sipri's arms transfer research programme.
France's arms exports increased by 44 per cent between 2013-17 and 2018-22. Most of the country's exports went to countries in Asia and Oceania and to the Middle East. India received 30 percent of French arms exports in the period 2018-22 and France replaced the US as India's second largest supplier after Russia.