Stockholm: More than a third of the global arms sold worldwide during the past five years originated in the United States, underscoring its role as the world’s top weapons seller, a Sweden-based institute said.

The US accounted for 37 per cent of global arms sales during the 2016-2020 period, and sold arms to 96 countries. Half of its sales went to the West Asia, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

When compared to sales for the prior five-year period, 2011-2015, global volumes of arms transfers for the most recent period were basically flat, SIPRI added in its latest review of global arms transfers.

Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter, accounted for one-fifth of global arms deliveries. However, Russia’s sales declined by 22 per cent compared to the 2011-2015 period, mainly owing to a sizeable drop in imports by India.

France was the third largest exporter, on eight per cent, and recorded several large deals with, among others, India, Egypt and Qatar, the institute said.

Germany and China completed the list of top five exporters.

Saudi Arabia was the world’s largest arms importer during the period, accounting for 11 per cent of global imports.

Other top importers were India, Egypt, Australia, and China.

The SIPRI arms transfers database does not include small arms and is based on public sources ranging from national and regional newspapers to specialised international journals, as well as government and industry reports.