- Since its peak in 1986, the size of the global nuclear arsenal has declined by 48 per cent. The US has 12,000 nuclear warheads, Russia 23,000 and France, China and the UK have only about 1,000 combined. - Vital Signs 1999-2000
- World military expenditure fell by an average of 4.5 per cent a year during the decade 1988-97. - Swedish International Peace Research Institute
- The UK is the second largest arms dealer in the world after the US, with 18.5 per cent of the world total. It is the third largest importer of arms. - The World Today: Essential Facts in an Everchanging World 2000 , Office of National Statistics
- Some 19 million people have died in conflict between 1945 and 1998 without the occurrence of a major world war. - The Military Balance 1998/99 , International Institute for Strategic Studies
- Between 1925 and 1950, 4.2 per cent of the world's population was killed through war, genocide and oppression. - The State of the World Atlas , 1999
- The United Nations is attempting to prevent war through peacekeeping missions in 14 different regions in the world. - Ministry of Defence press office (maps www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm )