New Small Arms Survey Annual Report 2025

2025 witnessed renewed geopolitical competition and ongoing conflicts fuel increased military expenditure and expansion of the global small arms market. Data collected proved that rising demand is accelerating the diffusion of weapons, including into the hands of non-state actors across multiple regions. At the same time, increasingly adaptive trafficking networks as well as technological and industrial shifts are compounding these challenges. Traditional arms control approaches are being outpaced.

The Small Arms Survey 2025 Annual Report presents our contribution over the past year to addressing these shifting dynamics, drawing on field-based research and global analysis to assess emerging risks and identify practical entry points for more effective responses. It reflects our efforts to strengthen both the application of established tools and the development of innovative approaches in response to evolving challenges. In doing so, it underscores our commitment to advancing more adaptive, evidence-driven, and context-sensitive strategies to address the complex realities of illicit arms proliferation today.

Read:  Small Arms Survey 2025 Annual Report

For more, check out:

• Small Arms Survey Strategy 2024–28—the Survey’s objective goals and focus for the next five years
• The Small Arms Survey projects page
• Outputs from all of our projects in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New methodology for tracking civilian firearms dynamics
• New blog post on C-IED and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus
• New HSBA Briefing Paper on the state of the Nuer White Armies of South Sudan
• New Report on small arms proliferation in Ukraine
• New HSBA Situation Update on the war in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states
• New HSBA Situation Update on the rise and fall of Benjamin Bol Mel
• New Report on firearm-related violence and trafficking in the Caribbean