Data Sources and Transparency

Data from the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) Verification Center (BwVC) is the foundation of this Guide, which has been validated by the literature and responses to a structured questionnaire that BICC sent to all national points of contact for the Programme of Action (PoA) on small arms and light weapons (see Methods).

Contributing Institutions

The following is a list of national points of contact that validated data on the spread of SALW in their country/region:

  • Multinational Small Arms and Ammunition Group (MSAG)
  • Arms Control and Arms Export Policy Division, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Centro Nacional de Planeación, Análisis e Información para el Combate a la Delincuencia, Mexico
  • Comisión Nacional contra la Fabricación y el Tráfico Ilícitos de Armas de Fuego, Municiones, Explosivos y Otros Materiales Relacionados (CONATIAF), Peru
  • Commission Nationale de Contrôle des Armes Légères et de Petit Calibre et de Réduction de Violence Armée en République Démocratique du Congo
  • Commission Nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères, Benin
  • Conventional Weapons Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia
  • Dirección de Seguridad y Defensa del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Peru
  • Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Division of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Portugal
  • Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Section - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland
  • Firearms Control Division Namibian Police Force, Namibia
  • Grupo Interinstitucional para la Prevención y el Control del Tráfico de Armas de Fuego (GC-Armas), Mexico
  • Malawi Police College
  • MFA - Department of Security Policy and Non-proliferation, Hungary
  • Ministere a la Presidence Charge de la Defense Nationale, Commission Nationale de lutte contre la Prolifération et la Circulation illicite des Armes Légères (COMNAT-GUINEE), Guinea
  • Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes - Direction des Affaires politiques / Ministère de la Justice - service armes prohibées, Luxemburg
  • Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de El Salvador
  • Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Department for Disarmament and Non-proliferation, Sweden
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
  • Ministry of Interior, Kuwait
  • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Security, Malawi
  • Ministry of National Defence and Security. The Kingdom of Swaziland
  • Ministry of the Interior, Estonia
  • National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), United Kingdom
  • National Security Advisor Office of the President, Somalia
  • Office of the Special Envoy on Transational Crime, Philippines
  • Police Service Lesotho
  • Royal Grenada Police Force
  • Sudan DDR Commission
  • Weapons Office, Police Force General Headquarters, Malta

Literature, databases and other sources

The following is a list of institutions whose databases and publications have been used for gathering data on the global spread of SALW:

  • UN Register of Conventional Arms
  • Small Arms Survey (SAS)
  • Conflict Armament Research (CAR)
  • Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
  • Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
  • Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT)
  • Uppsala University
  • University of Sydney
  • James Madison University (JMU)
  • Center for International Stabilization and Recovery (CSIR)
  • Armament Research Service (ARES)

  • IHS Jane's Weapons Infantry 2015-2016
  • Jane's Guns Recognition Guide (Fifth Edition) 2008
  • Illustrierte Enzyklopädie der Schützenwaffen aus aller Welt 1998
  • Small Arms Defense Journal
  • ISS Africa

The project team at BICC also engages with individual SALW experts to gather data on global weapons distribution. The participation of these experts and use of data produced by research institutions ensures that the online Guide relies not only on what national or regional governments are willing and able to share, but also on data that is collected via field research.


Thanks to all who helped with ideas and suggestions to improve the guide:

Stephen Lint (GBR), Geir Novik (NOR), Pascal Jeanmougin (FRA), Bill Johnson (USA), Erik Viken (DNK), Erik Lindmark (SWE), Prasenjit Chaudhuri (CHE), Vincent Choffat (CHE), Roland Kaimbacher (AUT), Manuel Muth (DEU) and Saskia Kowol (DEU).

Especially to John Schmitt (USA) from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency who provides some information about MANPADS and Ordnance ID and Max Kingery (USA) from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who provides some SALW markings and ammunition markings.