Topic summary
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
in Asia (dark grey)
28°10′N84°15′E / 28.167°N 84.250°E
28°36′50″N77°12′32″E / 28.61389°N 77.20889°E
of contracting states
- 60.8% Hinduism
- 30.5% Islam
- 2.9% Buddhism
- 1.9% Christianity
- 1.3% Sikhism
- 0.3% Jainism
- 0.2% no religion
- 0.05% Zoroastrianism
- 0.05% Baháʼí Faith
- 0.01% Judaism
- 0.8% other
Bangladesh
1,992,790,035(1st)
$23.6 trillion $11,233 $5.29 trillion $2,513 0.659medium
- Afghan afghani (؋) (AFN)
- Bangladeshi taka (৳) (BDT)
- Bhutanese ngultrum (Nu.) (BTN)
- Indian rupee (₹) (INR)
- Maldivian rufiyaa (.ރ) (MVR)
- Nepalese rupee (रु) (NPR)
- Pakistani rupee (₨) (PKR)
- Sri Lankan rupee (රු) (LKR)
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an intergovernmental organization comprising eight sovereign states with full membership: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It also includes nine non-member observers: Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea, and the United States. As of 2021, SAARC members collectively account for about 21% of the world's population and 5.21% (US$4.47 trillion) of the global economy.
The organization was founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 8 December 1985 and is currently headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. SAARC has promoted economic development and regional integration, including through the South Asian Free Trade Area since 2006. It maintains a permanent diplomatic presence at the United Nations as an observer and has developed similar links with the European Union.
As of 2026, SAARC summits have not been held since the 18th summit in Nepal in November 2014. Although the 19th summit in Pakistan was scheduled to take place in November 2016, it was indefinitely postponed following the withdrawal of India and several other member states due to the Uri attack by the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed; India currently cooperates with its eastern neighbours through BIMSTEC, while Bangladesh has sought to revive the organization alongside pursuing membership status with ASEAN.