South Africa - Arms exports (SIPRI trend indicator values)

The latest value for Arms exports (SIPRI trend indicator values) in South Africa was 37,000,000.00 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 235,000,000.00 in 2010 and 0.00 in 1977.

Definition: Arms transfers cover the supply of military weapons through sales, aid, gifts, and those made through manufacturing licenses. Data cover major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, radar systems, missiles, and ships designed for military use. Excluded are transfers of other military equipment such as small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services. Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in US$ m. at constant (1990) prices. A '0' indicates that the value of deliveries is less than US$0.5m

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Arms Transfers Programme (http://portal.sipri.org/publications/pages/transfer/splash).

See also:

Year Value
1960 27,000,000.00
1961 33,000,000.00
1967 4,000,000.00
1969 14,000,000.00
1970 2,000,000.00
1971 4,000,000.00
1972 12,000,000.00
1973 1,000,000.00
1974 2,000,000.00
1975 18,000,000.00
1976 16,000,000.00
1977 0.00
1980 39,000,000.00
1981 39,000,000.00
1982 1,000,000.00
1985 25,000,000.00
1986 25,000,000.00
1987 28,000,000.00
1988 25,000,000.00
1989 0.00
1991 54,000,000.00
1992 75,000,000.00
1993 54,000,000.00
1994 11,000,000.00
1995 17,000,000.00
1996 31,000,000.00
1997 7,000,000.00
1998 22,000,000.00
1999 28,000,000.00
2000 21,000,000.00
2001 37,000,000.00
2002 22,000,000.00
2003 48,000,000.00
2004 72,000,000.00
2005 35,000,000.00
2006 192,000,000.00
2007 137,000,000.00
2008 141,000,000.00
2009 103,000,000.00
2010 235,000,000.00
2011 71,000,000.00
2012 183,000,000.00
2013 102,000,000.00
2014 65,000,000.00
2015 58,000,000.00
2016 81,000,000.00
2017 74,000,000.00
2018 69,000,000.00
2019 142,000,000.00
2020 37,000,000.00

Development Relevance: Although national defense is an important function of government and security from external threats that contributes to economic development, high military expenditures for defense or civil conflicts burden the economy and may impede growth. Data on military expenditures are a rough indicator of the portion of national resources used for military activities and of the burden on the economy. Comparisons of military spending among countries should take into account the many factors that influence perceptions of vulnerability and risk, including historical and cultural traditions, the length of borders that need defending, the quality of relations with neighbors, and the role of the armed forces in the body politic.

Limitations and Exceptions: SIPRI calculates the volume of transfers to, from and between all parties using the TIV and the number of weapon systems or subsystems delivered in a given year. This data is intended to provide a common unit to allow the measurement if trends in the flow of arms to particular countries and regions over time. Therefore, the main priority is to ensure that the TIV system remains consistent over time, and that any changes introduced are backdated. SIPRI TIV figures do not represent sales prices for arms transfers. They should therefore not be directly compared with gross domestic product (GDP), military expenditure, sales values or the financial value of export licences in an attempt to measure the economic burden of arms imports or the economic benefits of exports. They are best used as the raw data for calculating trends in international arms transfers over periods of time, global percentages for suppliers and recipients, and percentages for the volume of transfers to or from particular states.

Original Source Notes: SIPRI statistical data on arms transfers relates to actual deliveries of major conventional weapons. To permit comparison between the data on such deliveries of different weapons and to identify general trends, SIPRI has developed a unique system to measu

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)'s Arms Transfers Program collects data on arms transfers from open sources. Since publicly available information is inadequate for tracking all weapons and other military equipment, SIPRI covers only what it terms major conventional weapons. Data cover the supply of weapons through sales, aid, gifts, and manufacturing licenses; therefore the term arms transfers rather than arms trade is used. SIPRI data also cover weapons supplied to or from rebel forces in an armed conflict as well as arms deliveries for which neither the supplier nor the recipient can be identified with acceptable certainty; these data are available in SIPRI's database. Data cover major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, radar systems and other sensors, missiles, and ships designed for military use as well as some major components such as turrets for armored vehicles and engines. Excluded are other military equipment such as most small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services.

Aggregation method: Sum

Base Period: 1990

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

Classification

Topic: Public Sector Indicators

Sub-Topic: Defense & arms trade