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Leopard 2 tank at Rheinmetall production facility

Photo: Fabian Bimmer / AP

Ukraine still has to defend itself against the Russian attack, Israel is fighting against the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and major powers such as India and China are arming themselves.

The world has not become more peaceful - and the current wars and crises influence the import and export of weapons.

Every year, the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri reports on trends in the global arms trade.

When comparing the five-year periods 2014 to 2018 and 2019 to 2023, Sipri found a decline of 3.3 percent - and at the same time significant shifts among the largest importers and exporters of weapons.

According to the survey, by far the most weapons went abroad from the USA - they increased their exports by 17 percent in the comparable period.

"The USA has expanded its global role as an arms supplier - an important aspect of its foreign policy - and exported more weapons to more countries than ever before," says Matthew George, who is responsible for arms transfers at Sipri.

This is happening at a time when the economic and geopolitical dominance of the USA is being challenged by emerging powers.

Russia's exports have plummeted

According to the report, Russia, for a long time the second largest arms exporter in the world after the USA, slipped to third place, just behind France.

Russian exports fell by 53 percent in the same period.

Since the start of the war of aggression in Ukraine, the state has been subject to numerous sanctions - and can now sell its weapons, especially to the East.

For example to India, the largest importer in the world.

India sourced more than a third (36 percent) of its arms imports from Russia.

France, now in second place on the export top list, was able to significantly expand its exports - these grew by 47 percent in the comparable period.

China and Germany remain among the five largest arms exporting nations.

Almost all of Israel's weapons imports come from the USA or Germany

On the leading importer side, India is followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Ukraine and Pakistan.

If you look at world regions instead of individual countries in the ranking, Asia and Oceania are at the top - followed by the Middle East, Europe and South and North America, which are counted together.

Africa brings up the rear.

According to Sipri, Europe has recently imported massively more weapons.

Imports rose by 94 percent in the comparative period examined.

The largest importer is Ukraine - which received almost a quarter of all weapons imports to Europe.

More than half (55 percent) of European arms imports came from the USA.

The USA is also the most important arms supplier in the Middle East, followed by Europe.

"Despite an overall decline in arms imports to the Middle East, they remain high in some countries, largely due to regional conflicts and tensions," said Sipri researcher Zain Hussain.

"In the past ten years, large-scale weapons imported have been used extensively in conflicts in the region, including in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen." Some states in the Gulf region have imported large quantities of weapons to use against the Houthis in Yemen to counteract Iranian influence.

According to Sipri, Israel sources a significant portion of its weapons from Germany: 30 percent.

The USA supplies almost all of the rest (69 percent).

Last year, the federal government approved arms exports worth 326.5 million euros to Israel - ten times as much as in 2022. Most of this was approved after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

By far the largest recipient of German arms exports remains Ukraine.

In the first three quarters of the year alone, the federal government approved the export of military equipment worth 3.3 billion euros to the country during the war, as the Federal Ministry of Economics announced.

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