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The value of all arms transfer agreements worldwide, to both developed and developing nations, reached 55 billion USD last year, down by 7.6 per cent from 2007, according to the latest report by the Federations of American Scientists (FAS) on conventional arms trading between 2001 - 2008. The reason why the value decreased in 2008 was a substantial setback in arms orders from 60 billion USD to 55 billion USD.
"Despite the impact of the international economic climate, the international arms market still is intensely competitive," the report indicates.
In the last three years, the total value of all international arms transfer agreements was 221 billion USD, up by 30 per cent from the worldwide value of 156 billion USD calculated for 2001-2004. Between 2005 and 2008, developing world nations accounted for 70 per cent of all arms transfer agreements made globally.
In the same period, the United States and Russia dominated the global arms market, ranking either first or second in the value of all arms deliveries worldwide. For the past three years, the overall value of arms deliveries from Russia amounted to 35 billion USD, equal to approximately 23 per cent of the worldwide value, whereas the United States sold 56.3 billion USD worth of arms, equal to 36.7 per cent of the global market.
Last year, the United States ranked first in the value of all arms agreements worldwide, for the eighth year in a row, with 37.8 billion USD and a market share of nearly 68%.
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