It is impossible to assess with a reasonable degree of confidence the size of the world's surplus stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, although many have tried. The Geneva-based NGO Small Arms Survey, a better source than most, estimates in its 2008 yearbook that there are 200 million military small arms worldwide, at '-least 76 million of which are surplus to requirements. It also estimates military ammunition stockpiles at 100-140 million tonnes, but does not suggest how much of that may be surplus.rnA series of disastrous explosions in recent years have wiped out ammunition depots in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, South Caucasus, Central Asia and elsewhere, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands, and making tens of thousands homeless. From this, it might be inferred that the excessive stocks of ammunition held in these depots was inherently dangerous and liable to explode at any time.
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