Global Distribution of Countries with the Most Weapons Companies in 2023

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its list of the top 100 producers of weapons and military services in the world by 2023.

Databoks compiled this data using a pivot table to determine the country of origin of each company. "Country" refers to the country where the company's ownership and control structures are located—that is, the location of the company's headquarters.

The results show that these companies originated from 22 countries. The United States (US) leads the list, with 41 companies producing weapons and military services. The US also controls the five companies with the highest revenue.

SIPRI notes that these top five US companies alone accounted for almost one-third of the total revenue of the top 100 companies in 2023. In total, the 41 US companies generated revenue of US$316.75 billion.

China in the second place, with 9 companies generating a total revenue of US$102.89 billion—less than half of the US, both in terms of the number of companies and revenue.

The United Kingdom follows with 7 companies, generating US$47.68 billion in revenue from weapons and military services.

France and Japan are next, with 5 companies each. However, France's revenue is significantly higher at US$25.53 billion, while Japan's is nearly US$10 billion.

Outside of these countries, the number of companies is less than 5. These countries include Germany, South Korea, India, Canada, and Ukraine.

SIPRI also reports that the top 100 arms companies generated nearly US$632 billion in revenue in 2023. This is 2.8% higher than the total revenue of the top 100 companies in 2022.

The following is a complete list of the countries of origin for the 100 largest weapons and military services producers in the world in 2023:

1. United States: 41 companies
2. China: 9 companies
3. United Kingdom: 7 companies
4. France: 5 companies
5. Japan: 5 companies
6. Germany: 4 companies
7. South Korea: 4 companies
8. India: 3 companies
9. Israel: 3 companies
10. Trans-European: 3 companies
11. Turkey: 3 companies
12. Italy: 2 companies
13. Russia: 2 companies
14. Canada: 1 company
15. Czech Republic: 1 company
16. Norway: 1 company
17. Poland: 1 company
18. Singapore: 1 company
19. Spain: 1 company
20. Sweden: 1 company
21. Taiwan: 1 company
22. Ukraine: 1 company

(Read: U.S. Arms Company Achieves Highest Global Revenue in 2023)