Stockholm: Ukraine became the world’s largest importer of major arms in the periods 2020-24, with its imports increasing nearly 100 times over compared with 2015-19. European arms imports overall grew by 155 per cent between the same periods, as states responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and uncertainty over the future of US foreign policy.
The United States further increased its share of global arms exports to 43 per cent, while Russia’s exports fell by 64 per cent, according to new data on international arms transfers published March 10 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The overall volume of arms transfers globally remained at roughly the same level as in 2015-19 and 2010-14 (but was 18 per cent higher than in 2005-2009), as increasing imports in Europe and the Americas were offset by decreases in other regions. The top 10 arms exporters in 2020-24 were the same as those in 2015-19 but Russia (accounting for 7.8 per cent of global arms exports) fell to third place behind France (9.6 per cent), while Italy (4.8 per cent) jumped from 10th to sixth place.
At least 35 states sent weapons to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and substantial further deliveries are in the pipeline.
Ukraine received 8.8 per cent of global arms imports in 2020-24. Most of the major arms supplied to Ukraine came from the USA (45 per cent), followed by Germany (12 per cent) and Poland (11 per cent). Ukraine was the only European state among the top 10 importers in 2020-24, although many other European states significantly increased their arms imports in the period.
“The new arms transfers figures clearly reflect the rearmament taking place among states in Europe in response to the threat from Russia,” said Mathew George, Programme Director with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
“However, some major arms importers, including Saudi Arabia, India and China, saw large declines in import volumes for a variety of reasons, despite high threat perceptions in their regions.”
“With an increasingly belligerent Russia and transatlantic relations under stress during the first Trump presidency, European NATO states have taken steps to reduce their dependence on arms imports and to strengthen the European arms industry,” said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. “But the transatlantic arms-supply relationship has deep roots. Imports from the USA have risen and European NATO states have almost 500 combat aircraft and many other weapons still on order from the USA.”
For the first time in two decades, the largest share of US arms exports in 2020-24 went to Europe (35 per cent) rather than the Middle East (33 per cent). Nevertheless, the top single recipient of US arms was Saudi Arabia (12 per cent of US arms exports).
“The USA is in a unique position when it comes to arms exports. At 43 per cent, its share of global arms exports is more than four times as much as the next-largest exporter, France,” said Mathew George. “The USA continues to be the supplier of choice for advanced long-range strike capabilities like combat aircraft.”
In contrast to the USA, arms exports by Russia fell sharply (64 per cent) between 2015-19 and 2020-24. The decline started before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: in 2020 and 2021 export volumes were much smaller than in any year in the previous two decades.
“The war against Ukraine has further accelerated the drop in Russia’s arms exports because more weapons are needed on the battlefield, trade sanctions make it harder for Russia to produce and sell its weapons, and the USA and its allies pressure states not to buy Russian arms,” said Pieter Wezeman. “Two of Russia’s most important arms-trading relationships had already weakened before 2022, with India increasingly favouring other suppliers, and China sourcing more arms from its own burgeoning arms industry.”
Russia delivered major arms to 33 states in 2020-24. Two thirds of Russian arms exports went to three states: India (38 per cent), China (17 per cent) and Kazakhstan (11 per cent).
France became the world’s second largest arms supplier in 2020-24, delivering arms to 65 states. France’s exports of major arms to other European states almost trebled between 2015-19 and 2020-24 (+187 per cent).
This was mainly due to deliveries of combat aircraft to Greece and Croatia, and arms supplies to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Nevertheless, India received by far the largest share of French arms exports (28 per cent)—almost twice the share that went to all European recipients combined (15 per cent). The second largest recipient of major arms from France was Qatar (9.7 per cent of French arms exports).
China was the fourth largest exporter of arms in 2020-24, with 5.9 per cent of global arms exports. Despite China’s efforts to increase its arms exports, many large importers do not buy Chinese arms for political reasons.
Four states in Asia and Oceania ranked among the 10 largest arms importers globally in 2020-24: India, Pakistan, Japan and Australia. China dropped out of the top 10 arms importers for the first time since 1990-94. The main suppliers to the region in 2020-24 were the USA, which accounted for 37 per cent of regional arms imports, Russia (17 per cent) and China (14 per cent).
India was the world’s second largest arms importer, with its imports reflecting perceived threats from both China and Pakistan. However, its imports decreased by 9.3 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. The largest share of Indian arms imports (36 per cent) came from Russia, a significantly smaller share than in 2015-19 (55 per cent) and 2010-14 (72 per cent). Arms imports by Pakistan grew by 61 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. China became even more dominant as its supplier, accounting for 81 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2020-24, compared with 74 per cent in 2015-19.
With the sharp drop in China’s arms imports, and marked decreases in imports by Taiwan (-27 per cent) and South Korea (-24 per cent), arms imports by East Asian states shrank by 22 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. Japan (+93 per cent) was the only East Asian state that saw an increase in its arms imports.
“While arms imports to Europe and the Middle East continue to grab media attention, Asia and Oceania remained the largest arms-importing region in the world in 2020-24, as it has been almost invariably since the early 1990s,” said Siemon Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. “Threat perceptions concerning China are behind much of the arms procurement in the region.”
