Enlargement of the United Nations

Summary

As of 29 March 2024, there are 193 member states in the United Nations (UN), each of which is a member of the United Nations General Assembly.[1]

Map of the current UN member states by their years of admission
  1945 (original members)
  1946–1959
  1960–1989
  1990–present
  non-member observer states

The following is a list of United Nations member states arranged in chronological order according to their dates of admission (with the United Nations Security Council resolutions that recommended their admission and the United Nations General Assembly resolutions that admitted them, signified with SCR and GAR, respectively),[2] including former members. Members denoted with "→" changed their names, had their memberships in the UN continued by a successor state, merged with other members, or were dissolved.

Timeline of Enlargement of the United Nations edit

1940s edit

1945 (original members) edit

The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, after ratification of the United Nations Charter by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and a majority of the other signatories.[3] A total of 51 original members (or founding members) joined that year; 50 of them signed the Charter at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, while Poland, which was not represented at the conference, signed it on 15 October 1945.[4]

24 October 1945

25 October 1945

30 October 1945

31 October 1945

1 November 1945

2 November 1945

5 November 1945

7 November 1945

9 November 1945

13 November 1945

14 November 1945

15 November 1945

21 November 1945

27 November 1945

10 December 1945

17 December 1945

18 December 1945

21 December 1945

27 December 1945

1946 edit

19 November 1946 (all by SCR 8 and GAR 34)

16 December 1946

1947 edit

30 September 1947 (all by SCR 29 and GAR 108)

1948 edit

19 April 1948

1949 edit

11 May 1949

1950s edit

1950 edit

28 September 1950

1955 edit

14 December 1955 (all by SCR 109 and GAR 995)

1956 edit

12 November 1956

18 December 1956

1957 edit

8 March 1957

17 September 1957

1958 edit

22 February 1958

12 December 1958

1960s edit

1960 edit

20 September 1960

28 September 1960

7 October 1960

1961 edit

27 September 1961

27 October 1961

14 December 1961

1962 edit

18 September 1962

8 October 1962

25 October 1962

1963 edit

14 May 1963

16 December 1963

1964 edit

1 December 1964

1965 edit

20 January 1965

21 September 1965

1966 edit

20 September 1966

28 September 1966

17 October 1966

9 December 1966

1967 edit

14 December 1967

1968 edit

24 April 1968

24 September 1968

12 November 1968

1970s edit

1970 edit

13 October 1970

1971 edit

21 September 1971

7 October 1971

25 October 1971

9 December 1971

1973 edit

18 September 1973

1974 edit

17 September 1974

1975 edit

16 September 1975

10 October 1975

12 November 1975

4 December 1975

1976 edit

21 September 1976

1 December 1976

15 December 1976

1977 edit

20 September 1977

1978 edit

19 September 1978

18 December 1978

1979 edit

18 September 1979

1980s edit

1980 edit

25 August 1980

16 September 1980

1981 edit

15 September 1981

25 September 1981

11 November 1981

1983 edit

23 September 1983

1984 edit

21 September 1984

1990s edit

1990 edit

23 April 1990

18 September 1990

1991 edit

17 September 1991

1992 edit

2 March 1992

22 May 1992

31 July 1992

1993 edit

19 January 1993

8 April 1993

28 May 1993

28 July 1993

1994 edit

15 December 1994

1999 edit

14 September 1999

2000s edit

2000 edit

5 September 2000

1 November 2000

2002 edit

10 September 2002

27 September 2002

2006 edit

28 June 2006

2010s edit

2011 edit

14 July 2011

Summary edit

 
Map of the UN member states by the decade of their dates of admission (former member states shown in insets)

Below is a summary of the growth in UN membership.[5]

Year # of admissions # of members
1945 51 51
1946 4 55
1947 2 57
1948 1 58
1949 1 59
1950 1 60
1951–1954 0 60
1955 16 76
1956 4 80
1957 2 82
1958 1 [A]82[A]
1959 0 82
1960 17 99
1961 4 [A]104[A]
1962 6 110
1963 3 113
1964 3 [B]115[B]
1965 3 [C]117[C]
1966 4 [C]122[C]
1967 1 123
1968 3 126
1969 0 126
1970 1 127
1971 5 132
1972 0 132
1973 3 135
1974 3 138
1975 6 144
1976 3 147
1977 2 149
1978 2 151
1979 1 152
1980 2 154
1981 3 157
1982 0 157
1983 1 158
1984 1 159
1985–1989 0 159
1990 2 [D][E]159[D][E]
1991 7 166
1992 13 179
1993 6 [F]184[F]
1994 1 185
1995–1998 0 185
1999 3 188
2000 2 [G]189[G]
2001 0 189
2002 2 191
2003–2005 0 191
2006 1 192
2007–2010 0 192
2011 1 193
2012–present 0 193

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c d e
    Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic on 22 February 1958. They resumed as separate UN members on 13 October 1961 after Syria resumed its status as an independent state.
  2. ^ a b c
    Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on 26 April 1964, which later changed its name to the United Republic of Tanzania.
  3. ^ a b c d e
    Indonesia temporarily withdrew from the UN on 20 January 1965. It announced its intention "to resume full cooperation with the United Nations and to resume participation in its activities" on 19 September 1966, and was invited to rejoin the UN on 28 September 1966.
  4. ^ a b c
    Yemen and Democratic Yemen merged on 22 May 1990, see Yemeni unification for details.
  5. ^ a b c
    The German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990, see German reunification for details.
  6. ^ a b
    Czechoslovakia ceased to be a UN member on 1 January 1993 after its dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, see Dissolution of Czechoslovakia for details.
  7. ^ a b
    Yugoslavia (referring to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), effectively dissolved by 1992, was removed from the official roster of UN members in 2000 following the admission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (name later changed to Serbia and Montenegro) as new UN members. For details see Breakup of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Wars.
  8. ^ a b c
    China, officially known then as the Republic of China (ROC) was a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power. In 1949, the ROC government led by the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to the island of Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) then established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Chinese mainland. As such, the political status of the ROC (alongside the territories currently under ROC jurisdiction) are in dispute. Constitutionally, both the ROC and the PRC continue to claim to be the sole legitimate government of the entirety of China (including Taiwan).[6][7][8] In 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC as the legitimate representative of "China" at the UN.[9] The ROC was subsequently expelled from the UN and its organs. Since then, attempts to rejoin the UN were blocked by the PRC and the ROC was forced to use other designations in other international organizations such as the name "Chinese Taipei" in the International Olympic Committee.
  9. ^
    Afghanistan's UN seat was retained by the deposed Islamic Republic government as the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate government, who controls all of Afghan territory, remains unrecognized.[10]

References edit

  1. ^ "What are Member States?". United Nations.
  2. ^ "Current Member States". United Nations.
  3. ^ "History of the United Nations". United Nations.
  4. ^ "Founding Member States". United Nations.
  5. ^ "Growth in United Nations membership, 1945–present". United Nations. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014.
  6. ^ Sarmento, Clara (2009). Eastwards / Westwards: Which Direction for Gender Studies in the 21st Century?. p. 127. ISBN 9781443808682.
  7. ^ Hudson, Christopher (2014). The China Handbook. p. 59. ISBN 9781134269662.
  8. ^ Rigger, Shelley (2002). Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Reform. p. 60. ISBN 9781134692972.
  9. ^ Froehlich, Annette; Seffinga, Vincent (2019). The United Nations and Space Security: Conflicting Mandates between UNCOPUOS and the CD. p. 40. ISBN 9783030060251.
  10. ^ Nichols, Michelle (15 December 2022). "Afghan Taliban Administration, Myanmar Junta Not Allowed Into United Nations for Now". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 December 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.