GENEVA -- There are nine guns for every 10 people in the United States, with about 270 million firearms in circulation, according to a report released Tuesday.
Of the 8 million new firearms manufactured annually around the world, roughly 4.5 million are bought in the United States.
Other countries with high per capita ownership include Yemen, with 61 small arms per 100 people; Finland with 56; Switzerland with 46 and Iraq with 39.
Much lower on the scale are Brazil, with nine guns per 100 people, England and Wales with six, India with four, China with three and Nigeria with one.
The report notes that only about 12 percent of all weapons worldwide are registered with authorities, making it difficult to collect exact data on gun possession. Five years ago the group estimated a total of 640 million small arms worldwide.
"There's a large number of states in the middle, mostly northern industrial states in Western Europe and North America," said Krause, citing France, with 32 per 100 people; Canada and Sweden, with 31 each and Germany, with 30.
The figures dispel the idea that gun ownership and high levels of violence necessarily go hand in hand, he said.
