The 2021 edition of the Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer—which scores the transparency of top and major exporters’ reporting on authorized arms trade activities carried out in 2018—finds Switzerland to be the most transparent small arms exporter. Countries scored an average of 12.61 points out of a maximum of 25, which is a slight increase of last year’s score (12.36).
Authorized small arms imports to South-east Asia were worth at least USD 443 million in 2016, a 48 per cent increase from 2015, as revealed by the Small Arms Survey’s Trade Update 2019: Transfers, Transparency, and South-east Asia Spotlight. This increase, combined with the diversification in their small arms trading partners, highlights the region’s growing significance for international small arms flows.
The 2018 edition of the Small Arms Survey’s Trade Update—analyzing the small arms authorized trade in 2015—finds that the global authorized small arms trade was worth at least USD 5.7 billion in 2015, with small arms ammunition exports valued at USD 2.3 billion. The total value represents a seven per cent decrease between 2014 and 2015, mostly due to a USD 198 million decline in exports by top exporting countries the United States, Brazil, and Italy.
The 2018 edition of the Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer—analyzing the transparency of the authorized small arms trade in 2015—identifies, in descending order, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Serbia as the most transparent exporters for 2015. The least transparent exporters for 2015 are, in ascending order, Iran, North Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
The Small Arms Survey’s Trade Update 2017: Out of the Shadows provides an overview of the international trade in small arms and light weapons in 2014, identifies the world’s top and major exporters of small arms and light weapons, and assesses changes in trade patterns from 2013 to 2014.
The Small Arms Survey’s Trade Update 2016: Transfers and Transparency reports that the world’s ‘top’ and ‘major’ small arms exporters delivered at least USD 5.8 billion worth of small arms in 2013, an increase of 17 per cent compared to the USD 5 billion worth exported in 2012.
The Small Arms Survey’s annual Transparency Barometer is designed to encourage individual states to make public information about their transfers of small arms and light weapons, their parts, accessories, and ammunition.
It has been published as part of the annual flagship Small Arms Survey since 2004, capturing information on producers and countries that sell or donate significant surpluses. It examines 52 countries that have declared—or are believed to have approved—small arms exports worth at least USD 10 million during at least one calendar year since 2001.
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Co-published with NISAT
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