The Top 20 Arms Exporters and Importers (2003-2007)

[gpit]

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently (3/31/2008) compiled arms trasfer data. A five year (2003-2007) top 20 arms exporters and importers are:

The top 20 arms exporters:
1. USA
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Netherlands
7. Italy
8. Sweden
9. China
10. Ukraine
11. Spain
12. Israel
13. Canada
14. Switzerland
15. Poland
16. Uzbekistan
17. South Korea
18. South Africa
19. Belgium
20. Denmark

Top 10 exporters pie chart:


The top 20 arms importers:
1. China
2. India
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Greece
5. South Korea
6. Israel
7. Egypt
8. Australia
9. Turkey
10. USA
11. Pakistan
12. Chile
13. Japan
14. Poland
15. United Kingdom
16. Italy
17. Taiwan
18. Singapore
19. South Africa
20. Spain

Top 10 importers pie chart:

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

Woah! Uzbekistan? how'd they get there?

 

[haviZsultan]

Woah! Uzbekistan? how'd they get there?

Ya uzbekistan has a very weak army and i had no idea they produced and exported weapons on such a high scale...

 

[gpit]

Woah! Uzbekistan? how'd they get there?

It's a former Soviet Union country, it may still have some share of left-over hardwares.

 

[EagleEyes]

Uzbekistan has huge military production base... left over by Soviets.

However, i do think that the list isn't so accurate.

 

[Malang]

Saudis are missing too...

 

[Kasrkin]

Egypt? What on Earth? Who do they have to fight? And what would they buy? I dont think is list is very accurate...

 

[kidwaibhai]

what is the source of this article

 

[UnKnOwN]

The Arms Transfers Project uses a wide variety of sources when collecting information for the database. The one common criterion is that the sources are published and available to the general public. The sources include:

* newspapers;
* periodicals and journals;
* books;
* monographs and annual reference works; and
* official national and international documents.

Some governmental publications also contain considerable amounts of information. These include:

* defence white papers;
* the UN Register on Conventional Arms (UNROCA);
* Pentagon notifications on government-to-government arms transfers to the US Congress; and
* translations of articles in the global press provided by the US NTIS Service.

The most frequently used sources are commercial periodicals specializing in military issues such as Defense News and Jane's Defence Weekly. A number of NGOs actively gather information on arms transfers and often introduce interesting new pieces of information to the public domain. In the field of aviation, detailed information is provided by a number of sources published by and for enthusiasts.

* Links to some of the research institutes and NGO sources used in compiling the database can be found here.
* Links to some of the media sources used in compiling the database can be found here.
* Links to some of the national, regional and international reporting mechanisms on arms transfers used in compiling the database can be found here.

Press releases and websites of arms producing companies are also useful sources of information on arms transfers. The SIPRI Arms Production Project web page provides links to many arms-producing company web sites.

The type of open information used by SIPRI cannot provide a comprehensive picture of world arms transfers. Published reports often provide only partial information, and substantial disagreement among reports is common. Order and delivery dates, exact numbers, types of weapon and the identity of suppliers or recipients may not always be clear. Therefore, the exercise of judgement and the making of estimates are important elements in compiling the database. Estimates are always kept at conservatively low levels.

All sources of data and details of the calculations of estimates, while not published by SIPRI, are collected in an archive maintained by the Arms Transfers Project
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Project Link: - SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
Sources Link: - Sources used in compiling the database