Where are weapons exported from Finland going? In which direction is the global arms trade changing? How do states prevent conflicts by monitoring and restricting arms trade and military activities? The Finnish Arms Control Report published by SaferGlobe provides insights into arms trade trends and the development of arms control in Finland and around the world.
Explore the data of the Arms Control Report through the Power BI embed below. Change the view using the arrows at the bottom of the embed to access country-specific information and historical developments. You can adjust the time interval displayed in the graphics using the sliders at the bottom. Access more detailed information by clicking on graphical elements like countries and bar charts. Older, printed report publications can be found in the report archive.
The goal of the Finnish Arms Control Report is to increase transparency of information related to arms trade and armament, and to develop and maintain primarily Finnish—but also international—research and expertise in arms control. The publication of the report is based on the view that conflicts can be prevented by monitoring and restricting arms trade and military activities.
The report presents Finland’s annual realized arms exports, their destination countries, and the euro-denominated values of the exports by product category. The presented statistics can be used to identify trends and developments in Finland’s arms exports and to outline the focal points of arms exports.
The countries shown on the map are the end-user states of the products. However, the area where the weapons are actually used may be different from the country. Whenever the buyer is a state’s armed forces or other authorities, the state itself decides in which military operations it uses the weapons. If the buyer is a company, it may resell the products to a third country.
Annual fluctuations in the volume of arms exports are significant because weapons systems are expensive, they are purchased infrequently, and deliveries may occur in specific years. For this reason, export developments are usually assessed in five-year periods. This way, it is possible to observe long-term development trends in arms export policy.
The data in the report are presented in euros, but they do not directly indicate the significance of the particular export. To obtain more detailed information, one must assess what product was exported, to whom, and for what purpose. It is also worth considering what proportion the export constituted of the purchasing state’s acquisitions of that product and of the state’s overall armament. The indicators presented in the Arms Control Report can be used to support this kind of broader analysis.
When using or citing information from the Finnish Arms Control Report and this website, the source must be cited as the Finnish Arms Control Report. Permission to republish articles from the report can be requested from SaferGlobe.
Tuote tai palvelu, joka on suunniteltu, valmistettu tai myyty nimenomaan sotilaallisiin käyttötarkoituksiin. Suomen lainsäädännössä sotatuotteista käytetään termiä puolustustarvike. Sotatuotteita eivät ole asevoimien käyttämät kulutustuotteet kuten näkkileipä, kumisaappaat tai tietokoneet.
Tuote, joka on suunniteltu, valmistettu ja myyty nimenomaan kuluttajakäyttöön. Käyttökohteita ovat esimerkiksi metsästys, kilpaurheilu ja muut ammuntaharrastukset. Suomen siviiliaseviennissä on vientilupajärjestelmästä johtuen mukana myös aseita ja ampumatarvikkeita, joita myydään eri maiden asevoimille ja muille viranomaisille.
Tuote tai palvelu, joka soveltuu normaalin siviilikäytön lisäksi myös sotilaallisiin tarkoituksiin. Kaksikäyttötuotteita ovat esimerkiksi erilaiset satelliitit, kemialliset yhdisteet sekä ohjelmistot, joilla voidaan edistää yleistä sotilaallista toimintakykyä tai joita voidaan käyttää joukkotuhoaseiden valmistamiseen.
Sekä sotatuotteiden, siviiliaseiden että kaksikäyttötuotteiden viemiseen tarvitaan lupa Suomen viranomaisilta. Vientilupa on pääsääntöisesti voimassa vuoden tai kolme vuotta, mutta myönnetty vientilupa ei välttämättä tarkoita, että luvan saanut vienti toteutuisi. Vientiluvat kertovat kuitenkin Suomen valtion harjoittamasta asevientipolitiikasta: millaisen asekaupan katsotaan olevan ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan linjausten mukaista.
The realized exports of military products have been obtained from reports published by the responsible export licensing authority, the Ministry of Defence. Military product export licenses are public documents and have been acquired through information requests from the Ministry of Defence.
The realized exports of civilian weapons have been obtained from the Customs’ Foreign Trade Data Distribution System. Civilian arms export licenses are considered confidential documents. The export licensing authority responsible for civilian weapons is the National Police Board. Due to resource constraints and deficiencies in its information systems, it has not been able to collect comprehensive statistics in recent years on export licenses granted for civilian arms exports.
Export license data for dual-use products have been obtained through an information request from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Publisher:
Institute for Economics and Peace.
The index is currently the most useful tool for generally assessing an individual state’s likelihood of increasing violence and the structures that sustain it in the world. The index measures internal and external conflicts, societal safety, and militarization in states using 23 qualitative and quantitative variables. A weight of 60 percent is given to the internal situation of states and 40 percent to external conflicts.
Our work in building peace and security and promoting expertise would not be possible without the support we receive from public organizations and private individuals. The easiest way to support us is by donating or becoming a member!
