Serbia is 37th in the world in terms of arms imports, over 60 percent of purchases come from China

On the list of 40 leading world importers weapons, Serbia was also in 37th place, while Ukraine was in first place, the newly published report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed.

Serbia's share in the world import weapons was increased in the period 2021-2025. to 0,6 percent from 0,2 percent in the period 2016-2020, i.e. 195 percent.

61 percent of Serbia's arms imports come from China, 12 percent from France, and seven percent from Russia.

Photo: Printscreen / sipri.org

Ukraine – a world leader

The world's largest arms importer is Ukraine, whose share in global imports is 9,7 percent, followed by India with 8,2 percent and Saudi Arabia with 6,8 percent, data from the Stockholm Institute show.

It further states that European countries are the biggest recipients of weapons as they have more than tripled their imports in the period 2021-2025. compared to the previous five years.

The report also showed that the export of the USA, the world's largest arms supplier, increased by 27 percent in the observed period, and that the growth of deliveries to Europe was 217 percent.

Institute program director Matthew George said that while tensions and conflicts in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East fuel large-scale arms imports, a surge in shipments to European countries has increased global arms traffic by nearly ten percent.

"Deliveries to Ukraine from 2022 are the most obvious factor, but most other European countries have also started importing significantly more weapons to bolster their military capabilities due to the perceived growing threat from Russia," George said.

Photo: FoNet

France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Israel, Great Britain are on the list of the world's leading arms suppliers after the USA.

At the same time, Russia is the only one among the ten leading arms suppliers that reduced exports by 64 percent. The country's share in global exports fell to 6,8 percent in the period 2021-2025. with 21 percent in the previous five-year period.

The institute also states that, after Ukraine, the largest importers of weapons in Europe were Poland and Great Britain.

In the Asia and Oceania region, the volume of arms imports decreased by a fifth in the previous five years compared to 2016-2020, led by a drop in Chinese imports by 72 percent, South Korean imports by 54 percent, and Australian imports by 39 percent.

In the Middle East as well, the import of weapons decreased by 13 percent in the observed period, but the import of Israel, 14th among the world's leading importers, increased by 12 percent.

Source: Beta