By the early 1980s, the SKS had been almost entirely superseded in worldwide military service by the AK-47 and its derivatives. The increasing proliferation of cheap AK-pattern rifles in most asymmetric conflicts also ended the popularity of the SKS as a standard guerrilla arm. At that time, the majority of the remaining carbines still in active use were being issued to state-sponsored militias and other paramilitary formations for internal security duties. State militia troops in the Ukraine continued to be issued with the SKS as late as 2014. In 2016, SKS carbines remained in the reserve stockpiles of over 50 national armies, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet bloc.