SIPRI Fact Sheets

This booklet provides a data-driven analysis of UN peace operations, OSCE field operations and EU CSDP missions and operations.

World military expenditure in 2020 is estimated to have been $1981 billion, the highest level since 1988—the earliest year for which SIPRI has a consistent estimate for total global military spending. World military expenditure in 2020 was 2.6 per cent higher in real terms than in 2019 and 9.3 per cent higher than in 2011. The global military burden—world military expenditure as a share of global gross domestic product—rose by 0.2 percentage points in 2020, to 2.4 per cent.

The volume of international transfers of major arms in 2016–20 was 0.5 per cent lower than in 2011–15 and 12 per cent higher than in 2006–10. The five largest arms exporters in 2016–20 were the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China. The five largest arms importers were Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China. Between 2011–15 and 2016–20 there were increases in arms transfers to the Middle East and to Europe, while there were decreases in the transfers to Africa, the Americas, and Asia and Oceania.

Twenty years after UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, some progress has been made on its implementation, but much still needs to be done.

Despite evidence of their positive impacts, United Nations peacekeeping operations continue to face budget cuts, cynicism in the political arena and concern over personnel physical safety. This context underpins the global and regional trends in multilateral peace operations in 2019.

Global military expenditure is estimated to have been $1917 billion in 2019, the highest level since 1988. The total was 3.6 per cent higher in real terms than in 2018 and 7.2 per cent higher than in 2010. World military spending rose in each of the five years from 2015, having decreased steadily from 2011 until 2014 following the global financial and economic crisis.

The volume of international transfers of major arms in 2015–19 was 5.5 per cent higher than in 2010–14 and 20 per cent higher than in 2005–2009. The five largest exporters in 2015–19 were the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China. The five largest importers were Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China. Between 2010–14 and 2015–19, there were increases in arms transfers to the Middle East and to Europe, while there were decreases in the transfers to Africa, the Americas and Asia and Oceania.

Arms sales of the world’s 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies (the SIPRI Top 100) were $420 billion in 2018. This was an increase of 4.6 per cent compared with total Top 100 arms sales for 2017.

This Fact Sheet lists the SIPRI Top 100 for 2018 from the updated SIPRI Arms Industry Database and describes the trends in international arms sales that are revealed by the new data.

Tense relations between Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are a major cause for concern regarding stability, security and peace in the Gulf region and in the Middle East more generally. These states seek to play a major role in the Middle East and use arms as a key tool in the pursuit of this aim.

World military expenditure is estimated to have been $1822 billion in 2018. It was 2.6 per cent higher in real terms than in 2017 and 5.4 per cent higher than in 2009. Global military spending has been gradually rising following a post-2009 low in 2014. It is now 76 per cent higher than the post-cold war low in 1998.