STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Europe has overtaken other regions to become the world's largest importer of arms over the past five years, as governments boosted military spending in response to Russia and concerns about the reliability of U.S. security guarantees, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed.

European countries more than tripled their arms imports between 2021 and 2025 compared with the 2016–2020 period. The surge reflects efforts to supply Ukraine as it defends against Russia's invasion and to replenish national arsenals after years of underinvestment in defence.

"The sharp increase in arms flows to European states pushed global arms transfers up almost 10 per cent," Mathew George, Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, said.

According to the report, Europe accounted for 33 percent of global arms imports, up sharply from 12 percent in the previous five-year period.

Despite attempts to strengthen domestic defence industries, European countries continued to buy large quantities of weapons from the United States, particularly combat aircraft and long-range air-defence systems.

Arms imports by countries in the Middle East fell 13 percent during the same period, although Saudi Arabia and Qatar remained among the world's four largest individual buyers.

The drop was largely due to the timing of large Saudi arms purchases placed during the previous five-year period, which are still being delivered and integrated into the country's military, said SIPRI senior researcher Pieter Wezeman.

Even before the latest U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, countries in the region had already placed significant new arms orders that have not yet been reflected in the latest figures.

The current conflict is expected to push procurement even higher, particularly for missile defence and air-defence systems.

"They will first replace what they have used, but also that they are going to look at buying more equipment to protect themselves even better than they can do now," Wezeman said.

The SIPRI data also showed the United States further cementing its position as the world's leading arms exporter.

The U.S. increased its share of the global arms export market to 42 percent, up from 36 percent in the previous five-year period.

France ranked as the second-largest arms supplier, accounting for 9.8 percent of global exports, while Russia's share fell sharply to 6.8 percent, down from 21 percent before its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Europe's combined arms export share stood at 28 percent, roughly four times that of Russia and five times that of China.