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Top 10 largest arms exporting countries in the world (2020–2024): Amid the emergence of a “new nuclear arms race”, the United States dominates as the largest arms exporter globally, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Yearbook 2025.
It also forecast that the US is likely to remain unchallenged as the “world’s largest arms exporter for the foreseeable future“.
Further, global military spending has risen by 37 per cent from 2015 to 2025. The percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) allocated to military expenditures across countries has also witnessed an increase of 2.5 per cent in 2024, SIPRI stated.
Almost all nine nuclear-armed states continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions.
India doesn’t fall into the rankings of the largest arms-exporting countries. Instead, it is ranked as the world’s second-largest arms importer, accounting for 8.3% of global imports from 2020 to 2024, SIPRI reported.
| Rank | Country | Percentage share of global arms exports (2020–24) | Top 3 Recipient Countries (Share of exporter’s total exports, 2020–24) |
| 1 | United States | 43% | Saudi Arabia (12%), Ukraine (9.3%), Japan (8.8%) |
| 2 | France | 9.6% | India (28%), Qatar (9.7%), Greece (8.3%) |
| 3 | Russia | 7.8% | India (38%), China (17%), Kazakhstan (11%) |
| 4 | China | 5.9% | Pakistan (63%), Serbia (6.8%), Thailand (4.6%) |
| 5 | Germany | 5.6% | Ukraine (19%), Egypt (19%), Israel (11%) |
| 6 | Italy | 4.8% | Qatar (28%), Egypt (18%), Kuwait (18%) |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 3.6% | Qatar (28%), USA (16%), Ukraine (10%) |
| 8 | Israel | 3.1% | India (34%), USA (13%), Philippines (8.1%) |
| 9 | Spain | 3.0% | Saudi Arabia (24%), Australia (18%), Türkiye (13%) |
| 10 | South Korea | 2.2% | Poland (46%), Philippines (14%), India (7.0%) |
Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2025: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security
However, India’s imports marked a 9.3% decline in its share compared to the previous five-year period from 2015 to 2019. This can primarily be attributed to India’s growing capacity to design and manufacture its weapons, which has reduced its reliance on imports.
In terms of sourcing, Russia constituted the largest portion of India’s arms imports at 36%, and the country is gradually diversifying its arms supply relationships, increasingly turning to Western suppliers, including France, Israel, and the United States.
In its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security, SIPRI revealed India to be possessing 180 nuclear stored warheads as of January 2025, while Pakistan has an estimated 170.
The USA’s arms exports grew by 21 per cent between 2015–19 and 2020–24, increasing its share of global arms exports from 35 to 43 per cent.
On the contrary, Russia’s arms exports, halved between 2015-19 and 2020-24, fell significantly below any other five-year period in its history.
As France’s exports increased by 11 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24, and stands as the second-largest arms exporter in 2020-24.
The 25 largest arms-exporting countries notably account for 98 per cent of the total volume of exports, with the top five accounting for 71 per cent.
