10 Countries that Export the Most Weapons in the World

 7. Italy

Total TIV 2000 – 2015: 8,792

Italy was one of the Europeans countries most affected by the 2008 financial crisis. One of the solutions Italian government applied was to increase its weapons exports by a large margin, in order to provide a much-needed cash infusion to its stumbling economy. This led to some awkward deals, involving countries that are usually mentioned by Italian press as the ones with less than stellar human rights records. It did work as intended though and Italian weapons manufacturers benefited greatly from its government more lenient arms sales position. Their biggest buyers were Peru, Spain and Chile before the crisis, but today those places are taken by the United Arab Emirates, India, and Turkey.