Ukraine arms imports have increased nearly 100 times between 2020 and 2024 compared to the previous five years, and the country has emerged as the globe’s largest importer of significant arms, surpassing India. This sudden shift is stated in a report by The Economic Times, as per data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Ukraine has provided almost 9 percent of global arms exports over this period, which reflects the significant military needs stemming from the war against Russia. As the war continues, the European nations have also increased arms imports, which have grown by 155 percent from 2020 to 2024 in direct correlation with the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ever since the conflict began in February 2022, the United States has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, a trend reported to have ended under President Donald Trump’s new administration. The US is still the largest arms contributor to Ukraine, supplying 45 percent of its total imports. A further 34 nations have also supplied weapons, with Germany and Poland shortly behind at 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Concurrently, India, which had been the largest importer of arms for several years—due to concerns regarding its nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan and China—had its share of world arms imports decline from 9.8 percent to 8.3 percent according to the 2024 SIPRI report. According to the report, Ukraine accounted for 4.9 percent of world arms imports, yet recent data indicates its share increased to 8.8 percent.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar also form the top five arms importers with 6.8 percent each, while Pakistan has 4.6 percent. Interestingly, Indian arms imports’ share fell by 9.3 percent between 2024 and 2025, while Pakistan’s share grew 61 percent.
The United States continues to be the largest arms dealer in the world’s market. Even though overall arms sales between 2020 and 2024 stayed the same, the sales have significantly risen in some countries, headed by the US, and significantly fallen in others, notably Russia.
The US share of global arms exports in the world market has grown by 43 percent, while Russian exports declined by 64 percent after sanctions were implemented early in 2022. Therefore, Russia now has only 7.8 percent of the global market, ranking behind France at 9.6 percent, then China and Germany at 5.9 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.
