The SIPRI Yearbook is known worldwide as an authoritative and independent source of data and analysis for politicians, diplomats, journalists, scholars, students and citizens on armaments, disarmament and international security. It provides an overview of developments in internationalsecurity, weapons and technology, military expenditure, the arms trade and arms production, and armed conflicts, along with efforts to control conventional, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.The first edition of the SIPRI Yearbook was released in 1969, with the aim of producing "a factual and balanced account of a controversial subject - the arms race and attempts to stop it".This 46th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook covers developments during 2014 including:* Essays on the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, as well as studies on the relationship of gender equality to peace and armed conflict, and the diversity of peace and war in Africa* East Asian and European security, as well as global and regional trends in peace operations, and development challenges in fragile states* Military expenditure, arms production and international arms transfers* World nuclear forces, with an overview of each of the nine nuclear-armed states* Iran's nuclear programme and multilateral arms control and disarmament* Implications of the Ebola outbreak and the challenge of addressing CBW issues in conflict zones* The Arms Trade Treaty, multilateral arms embargoes and export control regimesas well as a 10-year overview of patterns of armed violence, a summary of the Global Peace Index, and extensive annexes on arms control and disarmament agreements, international security bodies and events in 2014.