List of members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council

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The United Nations Economic and Social Council has 54 member states which are elected by the United Nations General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms, with terms ending on 31 December of the third year. Seats on the Council are based on United Nations Regional Groups, with fourteen seats allocated to the African Group, eleven to the Asia-Pacific Group, six to the Eastern European Group, ten to the Latin American and Caribbean Group, and thirteen to the Western European and Others Group.[1]

Unlike the UN Security Council, outgoing members are eligible for immediate re-election. Like the Security Council, getting elected to a seat requires a two-thirds majority vote, so it is possible for two candidates to deadlock with approximately half the vote each, needing negotiations to resolve.

Membership (1946–1965)[edit]

Prior to an amendment to the UN Charter in 1965, the Economic and Social Council consisted of 18 seats.

De facto permanent[edit]

The UN General Assembly agreed in 1946 that the Security Council's permanent five should be given de facto permanent ECOSOC seats. The Republic of China kept its seat renewed until 1961, when it failed to get a two-thirds majority vote for re-election.[2]

The United States renewed its seat in 1947, 1950, and so on; the United Kingdom and Soviet Union renewed their seats in 1948, 1951, and so on; and France and the Republic of China renewed their seats in 1949, 1952, and so on; making it so six out of eighteen total seats are up for election each year (until the ECOSOC was expanded in 1965).

Year De facto permanent seats
1946–1965  France  Soviet Union  United Kingdom  United States

Non-permanent[edit]

Unlike the Security Council, there was no specific agreement on how many ECOSOC seats would go to each of the then-informal United Nations Regional Groups, and seat arrangements instead came from "unwritten rules" and "habits" that eventually stabilized into a documented pattern. For example:[2][3]

  • The first election for the 1946 term ended up electing three members from Eastern Europe. However, Yugoslavia and New Zealand had deadlocked on one of the seats until New Zealand withdrew. When Yugoslavia's term ended, New Zealand was elected in its place; that seat effectively became a Commonwealth seat going forward. Meanwhile, the 'original' Commonwealth seat that went to Canada in 1946 eventually became a Middle Eastern seat, so this change did not increase the number of Commonwealth seats long-term.
  • One of the Western European seats went to a Scandinavian country and another to a Benelux country, with one exception per seat after the pattern broke.
  • Due to being a pattern instead of an agreement or rule, deviations sometimes occurred without comment. For example, at the end of 1947, Czechoslovakia's outgoing seat was contested by both Poland and Iran, but no member of the General Assembly made any complaint about Eastern Europe being potentially deprived of a seat.[4] Successfully elected deviations from the pattern are highlighted with a star below.

The pattern broke at the end of 1960, after fifteen ungrouped[a] nations from Africa joined the United Nations in the span of one month, increasing the number of nations without a group from four to nineteen.[5][2] The new members gave Africa, Asia, and Latin America together a commanding 66 out of 99 seats on the General Assembly (with Cyprus and Turkey caucusing with Asia, while the Republic of China, Israel, and South Africa did not caucus with Asia or Africa).[5][3] In the election for the 1961 term, the Republic of China (Taiwan) failed to obtain a two-thirds majority for re-election, while Ethiopia received a two-thirds majority. Belgium, the Republic of China, and India all deadlocked on the Netherlands' outgoing seat, which was left vacant for over four months, well into the 1961 term.[6] After negotiations, all three members withdrew in place of Italy, with an agreement that next year, Spain's outgoing seat would go to a candidate from either Africa or Asia.[2] This changed pattern would continue until 1965 when ECOSOC was expanded.

Year Latin American seats Eastern European seats Common­wealth seat Middle East / "Near and Far East"[b][c] Western European seats[d] Chinese seat
1946  Chile  Peru  Cuba  Colombia Czecho­slovakia Ukrainian SSR  Yugoslavia*  Canada*  Lebanon  India  Norway  Belgium  Greece  Republic of China
1947  Venezuela  Byelorussian SSR  New Zealand  Netherlands[e]  Turkey
1948  Brazil  Poland  Australia*  Denmark
1949  India  Belgium  Republic of China (Taiwan)
1950  Mexico Czecho­slovakia  Canada  Iran  Pakistan*
1951  Uruguay  Philippines  Sweden
1952  Argentina  Cuba  Egypt
1953  Venezuela  Yugoslavia  Australia  India  Turkey
1954  Ecuador Czecho­slovakia  Pakistan  Norway
1955  Dominican Republic  Netherlands
1956  Brazil  Canada  Indonesia  Greece
1957  Mexico  Poland  Finland
1958  Chile  Costa Rica  Sudan
1959  Venezuela  Bulgaria  New Zealand  Afghanistan  Spain
1960  Brazil  Japan  Denmark
1961  El Salvador  Uruguay  Jordan  Italy  Ethiopia*
1962  Colombia  Yugoslavia  Australia  India  Senegal*
1963  Argentina Czecho­slovakia  Austria
1964  Chile  Ecuador  Iraq  Luxembourg  Algeria*
1965  Peru  Romania  Canada  Pakistan  Gabon*

As candidates do not explicitly run for a specific seat, the arrangement of columns is slightly arbitrary. For example, at the end of 1952, the terms of Czechoslovakia, Iran, and Pakistan were ending, with India and Turkey elected in their place. The last seat deadlocked for thirteen rounds between Czechoslovakia, Pakistan, and Yugoslavia, with Yugoslavia finally obtaining a two-thirds majority. Had Pakistan won re-election instead, Turkey may have ended up placed in the Eastern European column for the 1953 term (similar to it doing so on the Security Council).[2][7][8]

Membership by regional group[edit]

African Group[edit]

2010  Cameroon  Congo  Mozambique  Niger  Comoros  Egypt  Ghana  Rwanda  Zambia  Cote d'Ivoire  Guinea-Bissau  Mauritius  Morocco  Namibia
2011  Gabon  Malawi  Senegal
2012  Burkina Faso  Ethiopia  Nigeria  Libya  Lesotho
2013  Benin  Mauritius  South Africa  Sudan  Tunisia
2014  Botswana  Congo  Democratic Republic of Congo  Togo
2015  Burkina Faso  Ghana  Mauritania  Uganda  Zimbabwe
2016  Algeria  Nigeria  Rwanda  Somalia  South Africa
2017  Benin  Cameroon  Chad  Eswatini
2018  Ghana  Malawi  Morocco  Sudan  Togo
2019  Angola  Egypt  Ethiopia  Kenya  Mali
2020  Benin  Botswana  Congo  Gabon
2021  Liberia  Libya  Madagascar  Nigeria  Zimbabwe
2022  Cote d'Ivoire  Eswatini  Mauritius  Tanzania  Tunisia
2023

Asia-Pacific Group[edit]

2010  India  Japan  Saudi Arabia  Bangladesh  Iraq  Mongolia  Philippines  People's Republic of China  Malaysia  Pakistan Republic of Korea
2011  People's Republic of China  Qatar  Pakistan Republic of Korea
2012  India  Japan  Indonesia
2013  Kuwait  Kyrgyzstan    Nepal  Turkmenistan
2014  People's Republic of China  Bangladesh  Kazakhstan Republic of Korea
2015  India  Japan  Pakistan
2016  Afghanistan [9][10]  Iraq  Lebanon  Viet Nam
2017  People's Republic of China Republic of Korea  Tajikistan  United Arab Emirates
2018  India  Japan  Philippines
2019 Iran (Islamic Republic of)  Pakistan  Saudi Arabia  Turkmenistan
2020  Bangladesh  China Republic of Korea  Thailand
2021  Indonesia  Japan  Solomon Islands
2022  Afghanistan [9][10]  India  Oman  Kazakhstan
2023

Eastern European Group[edit]

2010  Moldova  Poland  Russian Federation  Estonia  Slovakia  Ukraine
2011  Latvia  Hungary  Russian Federation
2012  Bulgaria [f]  Belarus
2013  Albania  Croatia
2014  Georgia  Serbia  Russian Federation
2015  Estonia
2016  Czech Republic  Republic of Moldova
2017  Azerbaijan  Romania  Russian Federation
2018  Belarus
2019  Armenia  Ukraine
2020  Latvia  Montenegro  Russian Federation
2021  Bulgaria
2022  Croatia  Czech Republic
2023
  1. ^ i.e. not part of the Arab League and therefore not caucusing with the Middle East subgroup[5]
  2. ^ Various inconsistent names were used before the proper introduction of Africa and Asia as Regional Groups, including also "Near and Middle East". Sources that were published after the introduction of the Regional Groups retroactively name this group "Asia-Africa" or similar, but this name was not used at the creation of ECOSOC.[5][2][3]
  3. ^ In October 1947, India proposed the creation of a group named "Australasia and the Far East", which would match the third seat if including South Asia, but the proposal was not taken up.[2]
  4. ^ The third seat has also been called a "Near and Middle East" seat, with Spain as the exception instead of Pakistan.[5]
  5. ^ Belgium was elected to receive a 3-year term starting in 1946. However, as Greece's 1-year term was ending, Turkey and the Netherlands deadlocked as successor candidates. The deadlock was resolved when Belgium agreed to give the remaining 2 years of its term to the Netherlands.
  6. ^ Bulgaria finished the remainder of Hungary's term

Latin American and Caribbean Group[edit]

2004  El Salvador  Guatemala  Jamaica  Belize  Colombia  Costa Rica  Cuba  Ecuador  Nicaragua  Panama
2005  Brazil  Mexico  Paraguay
2006  Cuba  Guyana  Haiti  Uruguay
2007  Barbados  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)  El Salvador
2008  Brazil  Guatemala  Saint Lucia
2009  Peru  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Uruguay  Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
2010  Argentina  Bahamas  Chile
2011  Mexico  Nicaragua  Ecuador
2012  Brazil  Cuba  Dominican Republic  El Salvador
2013  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)  Colombia  Haiti
2014  Antigua and Barbuda  Guatemala  Panama
2015  Brazil  Argentina  Honduras  Trinidad and Tobago
2016  Chile  Guyana  Peru
2017  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Colombia  Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
2018  Ecuador  El Salvador  Mexico  Uruguay
2019  Brazil  Paraguay  Jamaica
2020  Colombia  Nicaragua  Panama
2021  Argentina  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)  Guatemala  Mexico
2022  Belize  Chile  Peru
2023

Western European and Others Group[edit]

[11] [12]

1990  Canada  Finland  Sweden  United Kingdom  Italy  Netherlands  New Zealand  United States  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Portugal
1991  France  Germany  Austria  Spain  Turkey
1992  Italy  Australia  Belgium  United States
1993  Canada  Denmark  Norway  United Kingdom
1994  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Portugal
1995  Luxembourg  Australia  Netherlands  United States
1996  Canada  Finland  Sweden  United Kingdom
1997  France  Germany  Iceland  Spain  Turkey
1998  Belgium  Italy  New Zealand  United States
1999  Canada  Denmark  Norway  United Kingdom
2000  France  Germany  Austria  Greece  Portugal
2001  Andorra  Italy  Monaco  United States  Malta[a]
2002  Australia  Finland  Sweden  United Kingdom  Spain[b]
2003  France  Germany  Ireland  Greece  Portugal
2004  Belgium  Italy  Canada  United States  Turkey[c]
2005  Australia  Denmark  Iceland  United Kingdom  Spain[d]
2006  France  Germany  Austria  Turkey  Spain
2007  Netherlands  Luxembourg  Canada  United States
2008  Australia  Finland  Norway  United Kingdom
2009  France  Germany  Liechtenstein  Malta  Turkey
2010  Belgium  Italy  Canada  United States
2011  Australia  Finland  Norway  United Kingdom   Switzerland[e]  Spain[f]
2012   Switzerland[g]  Netherlands[h]  France  Germany  Ireland  Turkey  Spain
2013  New Zealand[i]  Denmark[j]  Sweden[k]  Netherlands  San Marino  Canada  United States  Austria[l]
2014  Finland   Switzerland  Sweden  United Kingdom
2015  France  Germany  Ireland  Greece  Portugal
2016  Australia  Belgium  Italy  United States
2017  Norway  Denmark  Andorra  United Kingdom
2018  France  Germany  Ireland  Spain  Turkey
2019  Canada  Luxembourg  Netherlands  United States
2020  Australia  Finland  Norway   Switzerland
2021  Austria  France  Germany  Portugal  United Kingdom
2022  Belgium  Canada  Italy  United States
2023
  1. ^ Malta finished the remainder of Greece's term
  2. ^ Spain finished the remainder of Portugal's term
  3. ^ Turkey finished the remainder of Portugal's term
  4. ^ Spain finished the remainder of Greece's term
  5. ^ Switzerland finished the remainder of Liechtenstein's term
  6. ^ Spain finished the remainder of Turkey's term
  7. ^ Switzerland finished the remainder of Norway's term
  8. ^ Netherlands finished the remainder of Belgium's term
  9. ^ New Zealand finished the remainder of Australia's term
  10. ^ Denmark finished the remainder of Finland's term
  11. ^ Sweden finished the remainder of Switzerland's term
  12. ^ Austria finished the remainder of Germany's term

Non-members[edit]

The list is a summary of all countries that have never been a member of United Nations Economic and Social Council.[13]

UN Member state Regional Group
 Brunei Asia-Pacific
 Dominica GRULAC
 East Timor Asia-Pacific
 Eritrea African
 Grenada GRULAC
 Kiribati None
 Maldives Asia-Pacific
 Marshall Islands Asia-Pacific
 Micronesia Asia-Pacific
 Monaco WEOG
 Myanmar Asia-Pacific
 Nauru Asia-Pacific
 North Korea Asia-Pacific
 North Macedonia E. European
 Palau Asia-Pacific
 Samoa Asia-Pacific
 São Tomé and Príncipe African
 Seychelles Asia-Pacific
 Singapore Asia-Pacific
 South Sudan African
 Tonga Asia-Pacific
 Tuvalu Asia-Pacific
 Uzbekistan Asia-Pacific
 Vanuatu Asia-Pacific

Notes[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ UN Economic and Social Council Members list (official site)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Gregg, Robert W. “The Economic and Social Council: Politics of Membership.” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 1, 1963, pp. 109–32. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/445962. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Padelford, Norman J. “Politics and the Future of ECOSOC.” International Organization, vol. 15, no. 4, 1961, pp. 564–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2705552. Accessed 24 Mar. 2024.
  4. ^ http://undocs.org/en/A/PV.94
  5. ^ a b c d e Agam, Hasmy; Sam Daws; Terence O'Brien; Ramesh Takur (26 March 1999). What is Equitable Geographic Representation in the Twenty-First Century (PDF) (Report). United Nations University. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  6. ^ http://undocs.org/en/A/PV.987
  7. ^ http://undocs.org/en/A/PV.389
  8. ^ http://undocs.org/en/A/PV.390
  9. ^ a b The United Nations currently recognizes the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as the government of Afghanistan instead of the de facto ruling government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
  10. ^ a b Gladstone, Rick (2021-12-01). "U.N. Seats Denied, for Now, to Afghanistan's Taliban and Myanmar's Junta". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  11. ^ Scharioth, Nicolas (2010). Western Democracies in the UN, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, ISBN 978-3-8329-5374-4 Statistical Data Appendix
  12. ^ Members of the Economic and Social Council for 2007
  13. ^ "Economic and Social Council Membership". Economic and Social Council.

External links[edit]