Europe has become the world’s largest arms-importing region after imports more than trebled in recent years, according to new figures released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In a report published on Monday, the research institute said European states received 33% of global arms imports between 2021 and 2025. The data showed that the volume of weapons imported by countries in the region rose by 210% compared with the 2016–2020 period.
The surge has pushed Europe ahead of Asia and Oceania as the largest destination for international arms transfers.
According to the report, the rise in global arms flows was driven largely by deliveries to Ukraine and increased procurement by other European states following Russia’s invasion in 2022.
“While tensions and conflicts in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East continue to drive large-scale arms imports, the sharp increase in arms flows to European states pushed global arms transfers up almost 10%,” said Mathew George, Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
“Deliveries to Ukraine since 2022 are the most obvious factor, but most other European states have also started importing significantly more arms to shore up their military capabilities against a perceived growing threat from Russia.”
Notably, Europe’s position as the largest importing region is linked in part to the structure of its defence industry.
Although several European countries manufacture advanced military equipment, many states in the region rely heavily on foreign suppliers for key systems such as combat aircraft and long-range air defence, as Europe manufactures less arms domestically than other regions like the United States.
Katarina Djokic, a researcher with SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Programme, said this dynamic has continued even as European governments have increased defence spending.
“Although European firms have ramped up arms production and the European Union’s new investment support for member states’ arms industries has led to a number of intra-EU orders,” she said.
“European states continued to import US arms in 2021–25, especially combat aircraft and long-range air defence systems.”
SIPRI’s data shows that the United States supplied almost half of the weapons transferred to Europe during the period, accounting for 48% of imports. Germany and France were the next largest suppliers, with 7.1% and 6.2% respectively.
The United States has also strengthened its position as the world’s leading arms exporter overall.
According to the report, the country supplied 42% of all international arms transfers between 2021 and 2025, up from 36% in the previous five-year period.
Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher with the programme, said US exports have expanded significantly in recent years.
“The USA has further cemented its dominance as an arms supplier, even in an increasingly multipolar world,” he said.
“For importers, US arms offer advanced capabilities and a way of fostering good relations with the USA, while the USA views arms exports as a tool of foreign policy and a way of strengthening its arms industry.”
Overall, SIPRI found that the volume of major arms transferred between countries worldwide increased by 9.2% between the two five-year periods analysed.
Outside Europe, imports declined across most regions.
States in Asia and Oceania accounted for 31% of global arms imports during the period, making it the second-largest importing region despite a 20% decline in the volume of transfers.
China’s imports fell sharply as its domestic defence industry expanded, with the country dropping out of the top ten arms importers for the first time since the early 1990s.
In the Middle East, arms imports declined by 13% between the two periods, although several countries in the Gulf region remain among the world’s largest purchasers of foreign weapons.
SIPRI tracks the volume of major weapons transfers rather than their financial value, measuring trends over five-year periods in order to smooth out annual fluctuations in global arms trade data.