Arab World - Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values)

The latest value for Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) in Arab World was 5,993,000,000 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 16,619,000,000 in 1982 and 541,000,000 in 1960.

Definition: Arms transfers cover the supply of military weapons through sales, aid, gifts, and those made through manufacturing licenses. Data cover major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, radar systems, missiles, and ships designed for military use. Excluded are transfers of other military equipment such as small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services. Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in US$ m. at constant (1990) prices. A '0' indicates that the value of deliveries is less than US$0.5m.

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Arms Transfers Programme (http://portal.sipri.org/publications/pages/transfer/splash).

See also:

Year Value
1960 541,000,000
1961 789,000,000
1962 1,260,000,000
1963 1,238,000,000
1964 1,548,000,000
1965 1,937,000,000
1966 3,457,000,000
1967 4,622,000,000
1968 3,303,000,000
1969 3,738,000,000
1970 4,172,000,000
1971 3,846,000,000
1972 6,485,000,000
1973 9,225,000,000
1974 8,967,999,000
1975 6,437,000,000
1976 5,849,000,000
1977 9,588,000,000
1978 11,402,000,000
1979 11,321,000,000
1980 11,905,000,000
1981 13,644,000,000
1982 16,619,000,000
1983 13,926,000,000
1984 12,422,000,000
1985 10,699,000,000
1986 10,322,000,000
1987 10,020,000,000
1988 5,481,000,000
1989 5,755,000,000
1990 6,487,000,000
1991 4,401,000,000
1992 3,675,000,000
1993 5,309,000,000
1994 4,165,000,000
1995 4,766,000,000
1996 5,343,000,000
1997 6,084,000,000
1998 4,938,000,000
1999 3,478,000,000
2000 2,760,000,000
2001 2,147,000,000
2002 2,928,000,000
2003 2,400,000,000
2004 4,159,000,000
2005 4,541,000,000
2006 4,301,000,000
2007 3,335,000,000
2008 4,171,000,000
2009 4,104,000,000
2010 5,305,000,000
2011 7,472,000,000
2012 5,941,000,000
2013 7,003,000,000
2014 7,592,000,000
2015 9,918,000,000
2016 12,570,000,000
2017 12,120,000,000
2018 10,154,000,000
2019 8,416,000,000
2020 5,993,000,000

Development Relevance: Although national defense is an important function of government and security from external threats that contributes to economic development, high military expenditures for defense or civil conflicts burden the economy and may impede growth. Data on military expenditures are a rough indicator of the portion of national resources used for military activities and of the burden on the economy. Comparisons of military spending among countries should take into account the many factors that influence perceptions of vulnerability and risk, including historical and cultural traditions, the length of borders that need defending, the quality of relations with neighbors, and the role of the armed forces in the body politic.

Limitations and Exceptions: SIPRI calculates the volume of transfers to, from and between all parties using the TIV and the number of weapon systems or subsystems delivered in a given year. This data is intended to provide a common unit to allow the measurement if trends in the flow of arms to particular countries and regions over time. Therefore, the main priority is to ensure that the TIV system remains consistent over time, and that any changes introduced are backdated. SIPRI TIV figures do not represent sales prices for arms transfers. They should therefore not be directly compared with gross domestic product (GDP), military expenditure, sales values or the financial value of export licences in an attempt to measure the economic burden of arms imports or the economic benefits of exports. They are best used as the raw data for calculating trends in international arms transfers over periods of time, global percentages for suppliers and recipients, and percentages for the volume of transfers to or from particular states.

Original Source Notes: SIPRI statistical data on arms transfers relates to actual deliveries of major conventional weapons. To permit comparison between the data on such deliveries of different weapons and to identify general trends, SIPRI has developed a unique system to measu

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)'s Arms Transfers Program collects data on arms transfers from open sources. Since publicly available information is inadequate for tracking all weapons and other military equipment, SIPRI covers only what it terms major conventional weapons. Data cover the supply of weapons through sales, aid, gifts, and manufacturing licenses; therefore the term arms transfers rather than arms trade is used. SIPRI data also cover weapons supplied to or from rebel forces in an armed conflict as well as arms deliveries for which neither the supplier nor the recipient can be identified with acceptable certainty; these data are available in SIPRI's database. Data cover major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, radar systems and other sensors, missiles, and ships designed for military use as well as some major components such as turrets for armored vehicles and engines. Excluded are other military equipment such as most small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services.

Aggregation method: Sum

Base Period: 1990

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

Classification

Topic: Public Sector Indicators

Sub-Topic: Defense & arms trade