Top 10 largest arms exporters and importers in 2021–2025: India’s position vs US, Pakistan and China

However, among the top five arms suppliers, Russia was the only country to experience a significant decrease, with its share of global arms exports falling by 64 per cent.

Here are the 10 largest suppliers of major arms and their main recipients, 2021–25:

Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, March 2026.

Note: Percentages below 10 are rounded to 1 decimal place; percentages over 10 are rounded to whole numbers.

Top 10 largest arms-importing countries in 2021–25:

On the other hand, Ukraine is the world’s largest major arms recipient in 2021–25, with its share of total global arms imports increasing dramatically from just 0.1 per cent in 2016–20 to 9.7 per cent in 2021–25, a rise of 11,896 per cent over the decade.

The top five recipients, Ukraine, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan, received 35 per cent of total global arms imports in 2021–25.

Among them, India and Saudi Arabia saw a decline in the share of global arms imports.

Pakistan, on the contrary, rose from 10th to 5th, increasing its share by 66 per cent from 2016–20 to 2021–25.

Here are the 10 largest recipients of major arms and their main suppliers, 2021–25

Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, March 2026.

Note: Percentages below 10 are rounded to 1 decimal place; percentages over 10 are rounded to whole numbers.

India’s position explained:

Although India is not among the world’s largest arms exporters, it ranks second among major arms importers during 2021–2025.

India accounts for 8.2 per cent of global arms imports. However, its share declined by 4 per cent compared to the 2016–2020 period.

SIPRI reported that this decline was partly due to India’s increasing self-reliance and domestic production of its own weapons.

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