Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Graphic Truth

Graphic Truth: The global arms market today

Graphic Truth: The global arms market today

Graphic by Paige Fusco & Ari Winkleman / GZERO Media

Make us preferred on Google

In a world increasingly worried about war, who sells the most weapons?


The United States is still top dog, accounting for more than 40% of global exports – more than the next eight countries combined. But the market for weaponry has shifted significantly in recent years, according to the latest benchmark report by SIPRI.

Imports by Ukraine have grown more than 9,500% since 2020, making it the world’s number one weapons recipient. At the same time, exports from Russia, the number three producer, fell by more than 60% as the Kremlin hoards material for its ongoing invasion of the country. But which countries would you guess are the number 2-5 exporters and importers?

Here we take a look at the biggest arms buyers and sellers in the world today.

More For You

African migration largely stays in Africa
GZERO Media / Natalie Johnson, Eileen Zhang
Tensions over migration are rising again between South Africa and its neighbors. Over the weekend, Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said two Nigerian nationals were killed in South Africa earlier this month – one allegedly by police officers, the other by unidentified attackers.Nigeria said the deaths “raise questions about the safety of foreigners” in [...]
Terrorism fades as Americans’ top concern
GZERO Media/Eileen Zhang/Paige Parsacala
The month after 9/11, terrorism was the most significant concern for Americans. In polling conducted by Gallup, 46% of Americans at the time said terrorism was their top concern. That year, trust in government hit a three-decade high in 2001, buoyed by President George W. Bush’s decisive response to the attacks. When the US invaded Afghanistan in [...]
The global geography of terrorism is shifting
Eileen Zhang
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the global fight against terrorism was overwhelmingly focused on the Middle East. Al-Qaeda had found sanctuary under the Taliban, and the United States was about to embark on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that would define the War on Terror for the next two decades. Twenty-five years later, the [...]
International students sour on the US
GZERO Media / Eileen Zhang
Rrrrinnnng! School bells are blaring as classes get back in session across the northern hemisphere, but something is increasingly absent from US college classrooms: international students. There were 110,000 fewer international student visa applications at US colleges and universities for this academic year than last year, a drop of nearly 10%, [...]