Asia dominates list of decade’s top arms importers

Nine of the 10 biggest arms importers in 2019–23 were countries in Asia (including the Middle East) and Oceania, according to a report on international arms transfers released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Ukraine became the fourth biggest arms importer globally after it received transfers of major arms from over 30 states in 2022–23, the institute reported.

As for arms exporting countries, the United States, number one on the list, saw a rise of 17% between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while exports by Russia fell by more than half (53%). Arms exports from France grew by 47% and it supplanted Russia as number two on the global list.

Excerpts from the SIPRI report follow:

Read the full study here. Its authors: Pieter D. Wezeman (Netherlands/Sweden) is a senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Program. Katarina Djokic (Serbia) is a researcher, Mathew George (India) is the director, Zain Hussain (United Kingdom) is a researcher, and Siemon T. Wezeman (Netherlands) is a senior researcher with the program.