The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (CIBRI) confirmed today, Monday, that the United States has maintained its position as the largest arms seller in the world, exporting more than a third of all global weapons over the past five years, while Saudi Arabia topped the list of global importers.
The institute, which is based in Sweden, stated in the latest review of arms transfers globally that the volume of arms transfers worldwide increased by approximately 6% during the period between 2015 and 2019, compared to the period between 2010 and 2014.
According to the institute’s report, the United States accounted for 36% of global arms sales during this period, as it exported weapons to 96 countries. Half of its arms sales went to the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia remained the largest arms importer in the world during this period, with 12% of total global arms imports, and the Kingdom alone received a fifth of US sales, making it the most important market.
The Institute's researcher Peter Weizmann says that the general trend during that period indicates that, in addition to the continuous growth in global arms sales, "we see very clearly that the United States has become more dominant, and the main supplier of weapons in
the world".
He adds that some of the major US handovers over the past five years were agreed upon during the administration of former President Barack Obama.
According to the classification of the Seabury Institute, Russia came in second place, exporting one fifth of global arms shipments to 47 countries, and more than half of its exports went to India, China and Algeria.
However, Russian arms exports were 18% less than between 2010 and 2014.
As for the third place, it was the share of France by about 8%, where it recorded in the last five years its highest level of exports since 1990 against the backdrop of major deals with Egypt, Qatar and India.
Germany and China are among the five major exporters, with these five countries accounting for 76% of global arms exports.