Because of the tensions with Russia, Europe has massively upgraded in recent years. Arms imports rose by 47 percent in the period 2018 to 2022 compared to the previous years, in the European NATO countries it was even 65 percent more. The beneficiary of the development is the United States, which further expanded its position as the largest arms exporter, according to a report by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published on Monday.
Global arms transfers fell by 5.1 percent in the period 2018-2022 compared to the same period of 2013-2017, while Europe was rearming. Arms imports fell in Africa (-40 percent), America (-21 percent), Asia (-7.5 percent) and the Middle East (-8.8 percent). On the other hand, there was an increase in arms imports in East Asia due to the geopolitical tensions with China and North Korea. The US allies South Korea (+61 percent) and Japan (+171 percent) recorded the largest increases. The main supplier was the USA.
The United States’ share of global arms exports increased from 33 percent to 40 percent in the period 2018-2022. Meanwhile, exports from the second largest arms exporting country, Russia, fell from 22 to 16 percent of global exports. The reason for this is that Russia gives priority to supplying its own armed forces. Due to sanctions against Russia and pressure from the US and its allies, demand for Russian weapons from other countries is likely to remain low, the report says.
France is the third largest exporter of military equipment, increasing its share of global arms exports from 7.1 percent in the previous four years to 11 percent in 2018-2022. Almost a third of the 44 percent increase in French arms exports went to India.
The United States supplied the most arms to Japan (8.6 percent of total US arms exports), Australia (8.4 percent) and South Korea (6.5 percent). On the other hand, deliveries of US military equipment to NATO partner Turkey fell drastically due to bilateral tensions. Turkey fell from 7th to 27th place among the top recipients of US arms. A total of 23 percent of US arms exports went to countries in Europe between 2018 and 2022, compared to 11 percent in the four years before.
India remains the largest recipient of Russian arms, even though the volume of exports fell by 37 percent. In contrast, Russian arms exports increased to China (+39 percent) and Egypt (+44 percent), making them Russia’s second and third largest recipients.
India remains the world’s largest arms importer, although its imports declined during the period. In second place is Saudi Arabia and the small Emirate of Qatar, which recently increased its arms imports by 311 percent. Australia and China rank fourth and fifth for arms imports. Arms shipments to Ukraine have only increased massively since the Russian war of aggression, which is why the country was the third largest arms importer in the world in 2022. For the entire period from 2018 to 2022, Ukraine was still in 14th place.
The main supplier of arms to Africa is Russia. 40 percent of African armaments imports from 2018 to 2022 came from Russia, followed far behind by the USA (16 percent), China (9.8 percent) and France (7.6 percent). In sub-Saharan Africa, several arms-exporting countries compete for influence, according to the report. Russia overtook China in arms supplies in 2018-2022 to become the largest supplier to sub-Saharan Africa. 21 percent of the weapons to the states came from Russia, 18 percent from China and 8.3 percent from France. Overall, arms imports from countries in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 23 percent, with Angola, Nigeria and Mali being the largest recipients.