Europe has become the world’s largest arms-importing region over the past five years, as governments across the continent rapidly increased military purchases in response to the war in Ukraine.
New data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that European states more than tripled their arms imports between 2016–2020 and 2021–2025.
According to the report, Europe accounted for 33% of global arms imports, a sharp rise from 12% in the previous five-year period. The increase was driven largely by the need to support Ukraine and to rebuild national militaries after decades of limited defense spending.
SIPRI found that the overall volume of international arms transfers increased by 9.2% during the same period, marking the largest growth in global arms flows since 2011–2015. Ukraine alone received 9.7% of all arms transfers between 2021 and 2025.
The United States remained the dominant global supplier of weapons. Its share of international arms exports rose from 36% to 42%, and exports to Europe alone increased by 217%. In fact, Europe became the largest regional destination for American arms exports for the first time in two decades, accounting for 38% of U.S. deliveries.
After Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Poland were the largest arms importers in Europe during the five-year period. Nearly half of all weapons delivered to European countries came from the United States, followed by Germany and France.
