FROM the steppes of Siberia to the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa, the flag of Mozambique and everywhere in between, the Russian-invented Kalashnikov series of rifles - first made famous by the 75-year-old AK-47 - have become a familiar sight to almost everyone around the world. However, is there any truth to a claim mentioned from time to time that there are currently more Kalashnikov rifles in circulation around the world than the current population of Malaysia in 2022? VERDICT:TRUEAccording to an Oxford University Department of Economics paper citing the Small Arms Survey of 2004, roughly 100 million of the over 500 million small arms around the world at the time were of the Kalashnikov family. It was added in the paper titled “Weaponomics: The Global Market for Assault Rifles” that three-quarters of the 100 million AK-type rifles are specifically the AK-47. So yes, going by current figures it would mean that there are indeed more AK-family weapons than Malaysians on the face of the Earth.
