Europe has become the world’s largest importer of major arms, with purchases more than trebling in recent years, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The volume of international transfers of major conventional arms rose by 9.2 per cent between the periods 2016–2020 and 2021–2025, marking the largest such increase since 2011–2015.
This global uptick was driven primarily by surging demand in Europe, where imports increased by 210 per cent over the same timeframe, elevating the continent to account for 33 per cent of all global arms imports — up sharply from 12 per cent in the prior five-year period.
Ukraine emerged as the single largest importer worldwide during 2021–2025, receiving 9.7 per cent of global arms transfers, followed in Europe by Poland and the UK.
The sharp rise across the continent reflects deliveries to support Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion since 2022, as well as efforts by many other European states to bolster their military capabilities in response to perceived threats from Moscow and uncertainties surrounding long-term US security commitments to NATO allies.
Among the 29 current European NATO members, arms imports grew by 143 per cent between the two periods.
Almost half (48 per cent) of arms delivered to European states originated in the US, which has further solidified its position as the dominant global supplier providing 42 per cent of worldwide transfers in 2021–2205, up from 36 per cent previously.
Other notable suppliers to Europe included Germany (7.1 per cent) and France (6.2 per cent), with French intra-European exports surging by 452 per cent.
Mathew George, Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, stated: “While tensions and conflicts in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East continue to drive large-scale arms imports, the sharp increase in arms flows to European states pushed global arms transfers up almost 10 per cent.
“Deliveries to Ukraine since 2022 are the most obvious factor but most other European states have also started importing significantly more arms to shore up their military capabilities against a perceived growing threat from Russia,” George said.
In contrast to Europe’s surge, arms imports declined in other major regions: Asia and Oceania by 20 per cent; the Middle East by 13 per cent; and Africa by 41 per cent.
Imports to the Americas rose modestly by 12 per cent.
US exports increased by 27 per cent overall, with 38 per cent now directed to Europe, a 217 per cent rise in shipments to the region.
The top single recipient of US arms was Saudi Arabia with 12 per cent of US arms exports.
France ranked second globally among exporters with 9.8 per cent of the market, while Russia’s share plummeted from 21 per cent to 6.8 per cent amid a 64 per cent drop in exports.
Germany surpassed China in 2021–2025 to rank as the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter, accounting for 5.7 per cent of global arms sales. Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of its exports were directed to Ukraine as military aid, with an additional 17 per cent supplied to other European countries.
Italy’s arms exports surged by 157 per cent between 2016–2020 and 2021–2025, propelling it from the world’s 10th-largest to the sixth-largest exporter. The Middle East received the majority of its exports (59 per cent), followed by Asia and Oceania (16 per cent) and Europe (13 per cent).
Despite fighting the war in Gaza and executing other large scale military operations, Israel increased its share of global arms exports, surpassing the UK.
Asked by Brussels Signal about the ranking of Iran and North Korea, which are sending suicide drones and artillery shells to Russia, Pieter Wezemann, Senior Researcher at Sipri said: “In general there is very little accurate, detailed and verifiable data” on both countries.
“Many claims, very little hard proof available in the open domain.
“It is likely that the SIPRI data somewhat underestimates the number of major arms, such as artillery, drones and ballistic or guided missiles supplied by Iran and North Korea. But this is very unlikely to have a major effect on our approximate ranking of this countries as arms exporters,” he added.
The low price is also a factor, according to Wezemann. “We do count one-way attack drones, such as the Shahed drones Iran has supplied to Russia. However, even if thousands of such drones have been supplied they are relatively cheap to produce, which is reflected in the SIPRI statistics.
“In addition, after Iran had supplied an estimated 7,000 or so drones, Russia set up a production line for its own further development of the Shahed and produced an estimated 60,000 more,” Wezemann said.
“But those we do not count as delivered by Iran as the Russian design content is too high.”
