A member state is a state that is a member of an

international organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...

or of a

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. Since the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

(WTO) and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF) include some members that are not

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

s, neither organization ever speaks of "member states". The WTO has simply "members" (see WTO members), and the IMF refers to its members as "member countries". The oldest global member state based organization is the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

, which joined the United Nations System as a Specialized Agency after the creation of the UN.

Worldwide

Member states of the United Nations The United Nations comprise sovereign states and the world's largest intergovernmental organization. All members have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The Charter of the United Nations defines the rules for admission of ...

, 193 * Member states of the International Telecommunication Union , 193 *

Member states of UNESCO , UNESCO members include 194 member states and 12 associate members.UNESCO official siteList of the 193 Member States (and the 11 Associate Members) of UNESCO and the date on which they became members (or Associate Members) of the Organization, ...

, 195 * , 190 * Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization , 184 * Member states of the World Sports Alliance , 49 *

Member states of the League of Nations Between 1920 and 1946, a total of 63 countries became member states of the League of Nations. When the Assembly of the League of Nations first met, it consisted of 42 founding members. A further 21 countries joined between then and the dissolu ...

* Member states of the Venice Commission , 58 * Member states of the World Customs Organization , 173 sovereign states, 4 customs territories and one customs union * Member states of the World Trade Organization , 166 * * * , 39 * *

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

, 194

Worldwide - language related

Member states of the Arab League The Arab League has 22 member states. It was founded in Cairo in March 1945 with seven members: the Kingdom of Egypt, the Kingdom of Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Republic, Transjordan (Jordan from 1949), and North Yemen (later beco ...

, 22 * Member states of the Dutch Language Union , 3 * Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations , 56 * Member states of the Latin Union , 36 * Member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries , 8 * Member states of the International Organization of the Francophonie * Member states of the Organization of Ibero-American States , 24

Worldwide - religion related

Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation founded in 1969 has 57 members, 56 of which are also member states of the United Nations, with 51 countries having a Muslim majority. Some member countries, especially in West Africa and South America, such ...

, 57

Worldwide - commodity related

* Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency , 167 *

Member states of OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize profit. It ...

, 12 * Member states of CIP , 14 * Member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , 195+

Restricted to a continent or larger region

Other

* Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States , 9 + 2 unofficial participants (

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

)

Military

Member states of NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international military alliance consisting of 32 member states from Europe and North America. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Of the 32 member c ...

, 32 ''In history:'' * *

References

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