Transfers of heavy conventional weapons
The top 10 exporters of conventional arms (excluding small arms/ light weapons – SALW) 2010-15
USA US$55.006 billion
Russia US$42.404 billion
China US$9.943 billion
Germany US$ 9.467 billion
France US$ 8.932 billion
UK US$ 7.627 billion
Spain US$ 5.310 billion
Italy US$ 4.360 billion
Ukraine US$ 4.156 billion
Israel US$ 3.280 billion
The top 10 importers of conventional arms (excluding SALWs) 2010-15
India US$23.124 billion
Saudi Arabia US$11.002 billion
China US$7.726 billion
UAE US$7.156 billion
Pakistan US$6.899 billion
Australia US$6.711 billion
Turkey US$5.410 billion
US US$5.220 billion
South Korea US$5.011 billion
Singapore US$4.344 billion
[Source: SIPRI]
Between 1992 and 2015, the United States reported transfers of heavy conventional weapons to the UN Register of Conventional Arms totalling:
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5,570 Battle tanks
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12,208 Armoured combat vehicles
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4,097 Large-calibre artillery system
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1,686 Combat aircrafts
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672 Attack helicopters
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51 Warships
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24,841 Missiles and missile launchers
The Russian Federation reported the following totals for the same period:
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1,294 Battle tanks
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4,052 Armoured combat vehicles
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1,637 Large-calibre artillery system
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664 Combat aircrafts
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604 Attack helicopters
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36 Warships
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26,809 Missiles and missile launchers
[Source: UN Register of Conventional Arms]
Military expenditure
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Total global military expenditure increased from US$1.14 trillion in 2001 to $US1.76 trillion in 2015, a rise of 50%.
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Military expenditure in the Middle East has grown from $US130 billion to $US181 billion from 2008-2014
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Military expenditure in the Asia/Oceania increased from $US311 billion to $US450 billion from 2008-2015
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In 2015, Saudi Arabia spent the equivalent of 13.7% of its GDP on arms; in the same year South Sudan spent 13.8% of GDP on arms.
[Source: SIPRI]
Top companies
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Total arms sales from the top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in the world (excluding China) rose by 104% from 2002-2013 and in 2013 stood at US$401 billion.
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The top 10 arms companies on this list made profits of over US$26 billion in 2014.
[Source: SIPRI – figures in constant 2011 prices/exchange rates excluding small arms/light weapons]
Armed violence
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Just under 500 people a day die from firearm homicide worldwide[Source: UNODC Global study on homicide 2013] – most in non-conflict settings. In addition, an estimated 2,000 more are injured.[Source: Small Arms Survey]
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At least 2 million people around the world are living with firearm injuries in non-conflict settings; millions more suffer the profound psychological effects that firearms violence brings to individuals, families and the wider community. [Source: Small Arms Survey]
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An estimated three-quarters of all small arms in the world are privately owned – approximately 650 million out of 875 million as of 2007, though the numbers are likely to have grown since then.[Source: Small Arms Survey]
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41% of all homicides are committed with firearms, rising to 66% in the Americas. [Source: UNODC Global report on homicide]
Small arms
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The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms registered the export of 1,808,904 firearms in 2013 – a considerable underestimate since only 25 Member States reported data on firearms. A more accurate estimate of the annual international trade in firearms is at least 4.6 million firearms. [Source: Small Arms Survey]
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The number of firearms in civilian hands in the USA is approximately one per head of population.
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From 2010-13 states reporting to the UNODC registered seizures of over 700,000 illicit firearms and 100 million rounds of ammunition.[Source: UNODC]
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Eight million new small arms and up to 15 billion rounds of ammunition are estimated to be manufactured worldwide each year;
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The authorised international trade in small arms and ammunition is estimated to be more than US$7.1 billion annually. [Source: Gunpolicy.org]
Historical Small Arms Estimates from Small Arms Survey:
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35–100 million AK-pattern weapons were produced since the 1950s until 2015
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8–12 million AR-15 rifles and derivatives were produced from the 1960s onwards (Bevan, 2013).
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Approximately 17 million Lee Enfield-series rifles and at least 7 million G3-pattern rifles have been produced to date (Bevan, 2014).
Cluster munitions – from 2015 Cluster Munitions Monitor
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At least 23 governments have used cluster munitions in conflicts around the world since the end of World War II. As of mid-2015, there were 25 countries still contaminated by cluster munition remnants.
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On the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008, a total of 91 states stockpiled millions of cluster munitions containing more than 1 billion submunitions. Since then, 27 States Parties have destroyed 1.3 million cluster munitions and 160 million submunitions – 90% of submunitions declared as stockpiled by States Parties.
[Source: Cluster Munitions Monitor 2015]