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mous amount on the military: in 2014, the US spent $610 bil- lion, compared to $601 billion spent by the next seven coun- tries combined. Arms companies started to look for new markets in other parts of the world where there was conflict or tension, such as the Middle East and many parts of Africa and Asia. For exam- ple, Pakistan and India, engaged in a long-running dispute over the region of Kashmir, increased their weapons purchases by 4.74 times and 3.03 times, respectively, from 1990 to 2014. Value of the Arms Trade Today According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the total amount of money spent on the world’s military forces in 2014 was $1.76 trillion—that is over $248 for every single man, woman, and child on the planet. Three countries account for over half of global military expen- diture, while the 12 biggest spenders together make up over three-quarters of the total. A large part of this enormous sum goes to salaries, housing, and provision for the millions of peo- ple who are members of military forces. Yet at least $76 billion is spent on arms worldwide every year. To put that sum into perspective, the arms trade each year is worth more than nine times the size of the entire annual budget for the United Nations (UN). Although over 100 nations of the world build and sell arms, the vast majority of weapons sales is concentrated in the hands of a small number of nations. Some 73 percent of the money spent on arms by countries and groups throughout the world goes to companies or organizations based in just five countries:

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The Arms Trade