The State Department's Bureau of Verification and Compliance reports that world trends in military spending and the arms trade showed an upswing in 1997, following post-Cold War declines. The findings are contained in the just-released report, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers 1998, the 27th in the series.

In addition to statistical tables on military expenditures, arms transfers, armed forces, and economic comparison data for each of 172 countries over the 1987-1997 period, the publication contains analytic highlights and charts, world rankings of countries for 17 indicators, and an essay on small arms and light weapons.

The World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers report was published by the former U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency until its merger with the Department of State.

Copies of the report are sold by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. Press copies may be obtained from the Office of Press Relations, Rm. 2109. The report is also available on the website of the Bureau of Verification and Compliance: www.state.gov/www/global/arms/bureauvc.html or contact the Bureau of Verification and Compliance, WMEAT Staff, (202) 736-4290.