Europe displaced the Middle East and Asia as the world’s largest arms buyer over the past five years, more than tripling weapons imports as governments rushed equipment to Ukraine and scrambled to rebuild military capabilities they had allowed to atrophy after the Cold War.
European countries accounted for one-third of global arms purchases between 2021 and 2025, a 210 percent jump from the preceding half-decade, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Nearly half those weapons came from the United States, which tightened its grip on the international market while Russia’s share collapsed under the weight of its own war needs and Western diplomatic pressure.
Global weapons flows expanded 9.2 percent across the period compared to the previous five years, SIPRI said. The research group tracks trends over half-decades to smooth out distortions from individual large contracts that can skew annual figures.
Mathew George, who directs SIPRI’s arms transfers program, said deliveries to Ukraine since 2022 explain much of Europe’s surge but noted that most other European states have also increased imports significantly to counter what they view as a growing Russian threat.
The shift marks a reversal for a continent that spent decades reducing defense spending after the Soviet Union’s collapse. European imports remain below Cold War peaks but have climbed rapidly enough to overtake regions that traditionally dominated global purchases.
The United States supplied 42 percent of all international arms transfers in 2021-2025, up from 36 percent the previous period. American weapons accounted for 48 percent of European imports and more than half of deliveries to the Middle East, cementing Washington’s position as the sole supplier capable of equipping allies across multiple theaters simultaneously.
France ranked second among exporters with 9.8 percent of global sales, a 21 percent increase from the prior period. Germany overtook China to become the fourth-largest seller, capturing 5.7 percent of the market.
Almost a quarter of German exports went to Ukraine as military aid. Only 17 percent reached other European buyers, meaning more than half left the continent entirely—a pattern George said reflects broader European production priorities.
“European suppliers are still supplying majorly outside of Europe rather than within,” he said, noting that transfers between European countries accounted for just one-fifth of flows in the region despite talk of the continent becoming more self-sufficient.
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US dominance in Europe appears set to continue. More than 460 F-35 fighter jets await delivery to European air forces, contracts that will sustain American market share for years regardless of what European governments produce domestically.
Russia’s weapons exports fell 64 percent by volume, dropping its global share from 21 percent in 2016-2020 to 6.8 percent in the most recent period. The decline made Russia the only top-ten exporter to see sales shrink.
Moscow is diverting more equipment to its own war effort in Ukraine while facing pressure from Washington and European capitals that have urged third countries to stop buying Russian arms, George said.
Additionally, Russia’s two largest customers—China and India—have moved toward domestic production and, in India’s case, diversified suppliers.
China’s shift away from Russian imports contributed to a 72 percent drop in its overall weapons purchases, knocking it out of the top ten importers for the first time since the early 1990s. The Asia and Oceania region’s imports fell 20 percent overall in 2021-2025 compared to the previous period, driven largely by China’s reduced buying.
But China has not slowed investment in military capabilities. Siemon Wezeman, a senior SIPRI researcher, said fears over Chinese intentions and expanding military power continue driving weapons purchases across Asia and Oceania, where many countries still depend on foreign suppliers.
Japan increased arms imports 76 percent between the two periods. Taiwan’s purchases climbed 54 percent.
Middle East imports dropped 13 percent, though three of the world’s top importers came from the region. Saudi Arabia accounted for 6.8 percent of global purchases, while Qatar and Kuwait represented 6.4 percent and 4.8 percent respectively. The United States supplied 54 percent of Middle Eastern imports.
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George said pending contracts suggest Middle East buying could rise when deliveries arrive, though he did not provide details on specific systems or timelines.
The data captures deliveries of major weapons systems including aircraft, armored vehicles, missiles and ships. It does not track small arms, ammunition or domestic production, meaning actual military spending and capability growth exceed what the figures reflect.
SIPRI’s methodology focuses on transfer volumes rather than financial values, measuring the quantity and sophistication of equipment changing hands. A single advanced fighter jet counts for more than older models, and complex systems like missile defense batteries register higher values than basic artillery.
Europe’s transformation into the dominant importer reflects strategic calculations that predate Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but accelerated sharply after February 2022.
Governments that had slashed defense budgets during decades of relative peace scrambled to acquire equipment capable of deterring or repelling Russian forces, often turning to American suppliers with production capacity European manufacturers could not match quickly.