Who benefits from the growth in the arms trade?

Stockholm peace institute says weapons sales have soared in the past five years, especially to Asia and the Middle East.



New figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show just how much arms sales have been growing - with a 14 percent rise in the last five years compared to the previous five years.

Countries in Asia and the Middle East are the biggest buyers - India and Saudi Arabia are first and second. Currently at war with forces across the border in Yemen Saudi arms imports almost trebled compared with the period between 2006 and 2010.

China remains in the top three though interestingly its share has decreased quite dramatically as Beijing continues to pour money into developing its own arms manufacturing industry.

That's borne out in the list of the world's biggest arms exporters where China has now overtaken France and Germany sitting behind the world's top two the United States and Russia.