The United States far outnumbers other countries in civilian firearm holding, with its 4-percent population holding over 40 percent of the world's civilian-owned firearms last year, a survey said Monday.
Of the 857 million civilian-held firearms estimated in 2017, 393 million were in the United States, more than those held by civilians in the other top 25 countries combined, said the latest issue of Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.
The growth of civilian holdings in the United States also contributed disproportionately to the increase of the firearms stockpile, which saw acquisition around 14 million guns annually during the last five years, according to Aaron Karp, an author of the survey, who held a press briefing Monday on the sidelines of a review conference on illicit small arms and light weapons.
In terms of ownership rates, the survey said every 100 U.S. residents owned 121 firearms, with the number being 53 in Yemen and 39 in Montenegro. At the other end of the spectrum, residents in Indonesia and Japan held less than one firearm per 100 people.
Overall, the survey put the global circulation of firearms as of 2017 at one billion, with 857 million (85 percent) in civilian hands, 133 million (13 percent) in military arsenals, and 23 million (2 percent) owned by law enforcement.
It also noted the diversity in civilian stockpile in terms of types of firearms. "They can include improvised craft weapons, factory-made handguns, rifles, shotguns, and in some countries even machine guns."
It specified that civilian holdings comprised not only weapons held by individuals but also those possessed by private security firms, non-state armed groups and gangs.
During the work of this research, the Small Arms Survey saw an increase of information availability on civilian holdings. However, it did not see the same level of transparency for armed forces and law enforcement agencies.
Civilian firearms registration data was available for 133 countries and territories, but only 28 countries released information on their military stockpiles and 28 did so regarding their law enforcement firearms holdings, it said.
