Measuring international arms transfers
SIPRI measures international transfers of arms in two ways
SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database contains information on all transfers of seven categories of major conventional weapons from 1950 to the present day. Since no accurate financial value can be ascribed to many of these transfers, the SIPRI Database measures the 'volume' of the transfers in terms of the functional worth of the arms.
The financial value of the arms trade
Utilizing official government and industry data SIPRI produces annually updated estimates of the financial value of countries' arms exports and the financial value of the global arms trade. Care should be taken when using these data, since they are produced using different methodologies and lists of weapon systems.
