There are more than one billion firearms in the world, the vast majority of which are in civilian hands. The Small Arms Survey estimates that of the one billion firearms in global circulation as of 2017, 857 million (85 per cent) were in civilian hands, 133 million (13 per cent) were in military arsenals, and 23 million (2 per cent) were owned by law enforcement agencies.
This infographic offers a further breakdown of these numbers by, region, country, and sector.
Unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) are a global problem. The Small Arms Survey defines UEMS as the accidental explosion of stockpiles of ammunition and explosives at storage sites, whether the stockpiles are properly stored or are abandoned, damaged, or improperly stored.
'A series of massive blasts recently rocked Equatorial Guinea’s city of Bata. The explosions, at an army barracks, killed over 100 people and destroyed military buildings as well as people’s homes around the site. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema stated that the explosions were “caused by negligence of the unit in charge of storing explosives, dynamite and ammunition at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp”.
'The world is currently facing an unprecedented challenge in the form of COVID-19. The pandemic is affecting people’s lives across the globe, and predictions speak to the crisis continuing for a while yet.
Check out this infographic for more on the methodology used to estimate losses of arms and ammunition in peace operations at the individual, squad, section, platoon, and company levels.
For more on this, check out our peace operations data set (PODS) here.
Available in: ENGLISH
Check out this infographic for an overview of notable incidents of weapons and ammunition losses in peace operations during the period from 1990 to 2018.
Available in: ENGLISH
Check out this infographic for some quick facts about unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS).
Find out more on our UEMS database here.
Check out this infographic for some quick facts about unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS).
Find out more on our UEMS database here.
Check out this infographic for some quick facts about unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS).
Find out more on our UEMS database here.
Available in: ENGLISH
As has frequently been observed, ammunition and weapons are inextricably linked; without the former the latter cannot function. The effective regulation and control of the production, transfer, storage and destruction of ammunition is therefore vital to broader efforts to prevent, reduce and combat uncontrolled or illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW) holdings and flows.