Holtom, Paul and Christelle Rigual. 2015 ‘Top Exporters and Importers of Small Arms and Light Weapons.’ Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World; Chapter 4, p. 85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and the Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 June

Relevant contents

[T]he key findings of the chapter include the following:

- In 2012, the top exporters of small arms and light weapons (those with annual exports of at least USD 100 million), according to available customs data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade), were (in descending order) the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria, South Korea, the Russian Federation, China, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Norway, and Japan.

- In 2012, the top importers of small arms and light weapons (those with annual imports of at least USD 100 million), according to available customs data, were (in descending order) the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Indonesia.

- The five largest exporters of small arms during 2001-12, according to available customs data, were (in descending order) the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, and Austria. The United States was also, according to available customs data, the world's largest importer of small arms during 2001-12. The next four largest small arms importers during this period were Canada, Germany, France, and the UK…

- Regional intergovernmental information exchanges on small arms transfers are not contributing to public transparency, yet regional reporting instruments that cover broader categories of conventional arms are releasing annual reports to the public…

[Small arms = revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles, and light machine guns; Light Weapons = heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, recoilless rifles, portable anti-tank missile and rocket launchers, portable anti-aircraft missile launchers, and mortars of less than 100 mm calibre; USD = US dollars]

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