About the Small Arms Survey

The Small Arms Survey in Brief

The Small Arms Survey provides expertise on all aspects of small arms and armed violence.

As a global centre of excellence, the Small Arms Survey generates evidence-based, impartial, and policy-relevant knowledge and analysis on small arms and armed violence issues for governments, policy-makers, researchers, and civil society. The Survey is a project of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Survey has an international staff with expertise in security studies, political science, law, economics, development studies, sociology, and criminology. About half of the Survey’s team is based in Geneva. The Survey also has an office in Washington DC.

Objectives and resources

Our main objective is to reduce the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons and their impacts.

To achieve this objective, we generate policy-relevant research and analysis, and provide both resources (publications, podcasts and a wide range of relevant outputs) and services (training and capacity-building).

The Small Arms Survey also manages five major global databases:

All Small Arms Survey resources are available online, many in several languages at www.smallarmssurvey.org

The Small Arms Survey Strategic Council

The Strategic Council, established in 2020, provides advice and guidance to the Survey on strategic matters. While the Survey is legally accountable to the Graduate Institute as its parent organization, the Strategic Council offers the Survey welcome feedback, strengthens its responsibilities vis-à-vis major stakeholders—including its donors, and provides guidance on strategic decisions. The current members of the Council are: the Graduate Institute, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.