These 25 Countries Are Exporting the Most Weapons

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When it comes to military spending, the United States has by far the largest budget, overtaking the next nine countries combined. The U.S. is also, by far, the world’s largest arms exporter, supplying weapons to over 110 countries worldwide, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute .

U.S. arms exports actually rose 17% between 2014–18 and 2019–23. Russia’s exports, meanwhile, fell by more than half (–53%) over that time. With this drop, Russia, fell from the world’s second largest arms exporter to third. France’s exports, on the other hand, grew by 47% as it climbed to becoming the second largest arms exporter worldwide.

Using SIPRI’s databases , 24/7 Wall St. identified the 25 countries that are the largest exporters of arms. Countries are ranked on the value of their arms exports as a share of all arms exports globally from 2019 to 2023. The United States, France, and Russia alone account for 63.2% of all global arms exports.

Who do the largest arms exporter supply their weapons to? This largely depends on global alliances. For example, Iran supplies nearly 75% of its arms exports to Russia and another 7.4% to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Russia, meanwhile, supplies its arms mainly to India and China (55% combined), while China’s largest recipient (61%) is Pakistan. The U.S. arms exports are more dispersed, though a significant 15% go to Saudi Arabia. France, too, has India as its largest customer with 29% of arms exports going there.

Many of the highest ranking countries on this list are home to some of the world’s largest defense contractors. The United States is home to the five largest defense contractors in the world, including Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman. (Here are The 25 Companies Making Billions Building the World’s Weapons .)

Why Are We Covering This

While it may not seem so given the rising global tensions in recent years, global arms transfers actually slightly declined from 2014–18 to  2019–23. This may change next year, of course. Regardless, it is important to see how the global political climate is affecting the global arms trade.

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