The war in Ukraine has strongly revived arms imports to the Old Continent. Kiev has become the world's third largest destination. Arms imports into Europe have almost doubled in 2022, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published on Monday. With a surge of 93% over one year, imports have also increased due to the increase in military spending in several European states such as Poland and Norway, which is expected to accelerate further, according to this reference study.

"The invasion has really caused a significant surge in demand for weapons in Europe, which has not yet shown its full power and will in all likelihood lead to further increases in imports," said Pieter Wezeman, co-author of the annual report for more than three decades. Excluding Ukraine, the increase in European imports still reached 35% in 2022, according to SIPRI data.

Kiev's imports multiplied by more than 60

Ukraine, hitherto a negligible importer of armaments, suddenly became the world's third-largest arms destination last year, behind Qatar and India, as a direct result of Western aid to repel the Russian invasion. The country alone accounted for 31% of arms imports in Europe and 8% of world trade, according to data provided by SIPRI to AFP as part of its annual report.

Kiev's imports, including Western donations, increased more than 60-fold in 2022, according to the Stockholm-based institute. For most second-hand equipment, deliveries to Ukraine include about 230 US artillery pieces, 280 Polish armored vehicles or more than 7,000 British anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems, new this time, lists SIPRI. In establishing its rankings on the global arms trade, the institute favours its own units of value, rather than dollars or euros.

A spectacular acceleration in Europe

While it is difficult to quantify because of the opacity of many contracts, the global arms trade exceeds $ 100 billion annually, according to experts. For a global amount of military spending that for the first time exceeded $ 2,000 billion in 2021, according to SIPRI. The jump in European imports was expected due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

But it dramatically accelerates an upward trend on the Old Continent, a consequence of the rearmament that began several years ago after the annexation of Crimea by Moscow, and which is now accelerating at high speed. "European countries have either already ordered or plan to do so all types of weaponry. Submarines, fighter jets, drones, anti-tank missiles, rifles and radars," says Wezeman. "Everything is examined, because the idea is to build military capabilities across the spectrum."

Europe is progressing more than all other continents

Over the last five years (2018-2022), SIPRI's preferred period to identify trends, European imports have increased by 47% compared to the previous five years, while world trade has declined by 5%. Unlike Europe, all other continents posted a five-year decline in imports, with a marked decline in Africa (-40%), North and South America (-20%) and even Asia (-7%) and the Middle East (-9%), the world's largest markets.

Another major inflection: according to SIPRI data, the Middle East became the leading destination area for arms exports in 2022 last year, with 32% of the world total. It overtakes Asia-Oceania (30%), which had been in first place for years, and Europe, at 27%, compared to less than 11% a decade ago.

United States, Russia and France on the podium of exporters

China is arming itself en masse but is increasingly producing its weapons locally, which tends to reduce exports to Asia, according to SIPRI. In addition to Qatar (10% of the total), India (9%) and Ukraine (8%), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (7% each) and Pakistan (5%) were the main importers.

On the export side, the world's top 5 over the past five years is still provided by the United States (40%), followed by Russia (16%), France (11%), China (5%) and Germany (4%), i.e. three quarters of the total. But the American and French shares have risen sharply, while those of the other three have declined.

  • War in Ukraine
  • World
  • Arms
  • Arms trafficking
  • Russia