(Photo from Anadolu)
ISTANBUL – The volume of the international arms trade contracted by 3.3 percent between 2019 and 2023 compared to the preceding five-year period, according to a report released on Monday.
However, during the same period, major arms imports into European countries increased by 94 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its report.
"There were overall decreases in arms transfers to all other regions, but states in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East continued to import arms in much larger volumes than those in Europe," the institute stated.
The report showed that the top three arms exporters were India, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, while Ukraine was the fourth largest one.
Ukraine's share of global arms imports rose by 6,633 percent in 2019-2023 versus the previous five-year period.
Pakistan, Japan, Egypt, Australia, South Korea, and China were other top 10 importers in the five years.
Exporters
US arms exports increased by 17 percent between 2014–2018 and 2019–2023, while Russian armaments exports fell by 53 percent.
The US share was 42 percent in the global arms exports in the last five years.
France has surpassed Russia as the world's second-largest arms supplier, with a 47 percent increase in arms exports over the last five years.
China, Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain, Israel and South Korea were other top 10 countries.
Meanwhile, Türkiye's share of the global arms export market increased from 0.7 percent to 1.6 percent, or 106 percent, making it the 11th largest supplier. (Anadolu)
