Stock exchanges: Survey: War is changing investors’ attitudes towards armaments

The war in Ukraine has made many people more open to investing in the defense industry. Before the Russian attack on the neighboring country, around 53 percent of people in Germany found it morally reprehensible when private investors invest in armaments companies, according to a survey by the comparison portal Verivox with 1040 respondents.

According to information from Verivox on Monday, only just under two thirds (59.7 percent) of those still hold on to this negative attitude. About a fifth of each group now consider investments in the armaments industry to be justifiable (20.9 percent) or have doubts about the previously negative position (19.3 percent).

“In the news, people hear that Ukraine urgently needs weapons for defense and that the Bundeswehr also needs to modernize its equipment. In view of such reports, it is obvious that many are now reconsidering their original rejection of investments in the armaments industry,” said Verivox managing director Oliver Maier enters the survey results.

Also doubts about arms investments

“But what happened during the war has shaken the standards of value in all parts of the population,” said Maier. Because even among those surveyed who found arms investments in order even before the war (a good 47 percent), 23 percent have changed their view and now no longer consider such investments to be morally justifiable. A good 25 percent have at least doubts about their earlier supportive position.

Increasing demand for weapons, ammunition and military equipment has given defense stocks a strong boost in recent months. The industry is benefiting from the sharp rise in defense spending in Western countries.