Preface

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute initiated its work 60 years ago, in July 1966, and three years later published the first edition of the SIPRI Yearbook. In celebration of SIPRI’s 60th anniversary, this edition of the Yearbook will be launched in June 2026 at an event at the Swedish Parliament, organized by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. When SIPRI was set up in 1966, the purpose was to make information that was normally secret, or at least restricted to specialists, more available, thus levelling the playing field in international affairs, strengthening the capacity of countries with fewer resources and increasing transparency on the sensitive issues of armaments and disarmament. Compared to the challenges to peace and security in 1966, the contemporary environment is fundamentally different, as is the information ecosystem. With the distribution of power and influence in international security increasingly fragmented and contested, misinformation and disinformation are all too common. The underlying motives for spreading false information—power, money and influence—remain largely the same, but the speed, scale and prevalence of misinformation and disinformation have undergone a revolutionary change since the 1960s. This makes an accurate and trustworthy SIPRI Yearbook more important than ever.