SIPRI’s research on arms and military spending has been the core of the institute’s work since its foundation in the 1960s. This work is largely based around three comprehensive and open-access databases: the Arms transfers database, the Arms industry database and the Military expenditure database. These exemplify SIPRI’s core values of transparency by using only open sources that can be independently checked, and universality by including data on nearly every country in the world. SIPRI also provides documents on all arms embargoes since the 1950s and national reports on arms export controls.

Providing reliable data on international arms production, transfers and global military spending empowers researchers, policymakers and the public, allowing them to directly assess the current state of the arms industry. SIPRI researchers also analyse the data to identify trends and potential impacts to global security.