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

international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...

or of a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or 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 that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(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, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster gl ...

(IMF) include some members that are not

sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined terr ...

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 is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union ...

, which joined the United Nations System as a Specialized Agency of the T1088 after the creation of the UN.

Worldwide

Member states of the United Nations The United Nations member states are the sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the world's largest intergovernmental organization. The criteria ...

, 193 * Member states of the International Telecommunication Union , 193 * Member states of UNESCO , 195 * Interpol#Members , 190 * Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization , 184 * Member states of the World Sports Alliance , 24 * Member states of the League of Nations * Member states of the Venice Commission , 58 * Member states of the World Customs Organization , 173 sovereign states, 4 customs territories and one customs union * International Hydrographic Organization#Member countries * International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property#Member states * Alliance of Small Island States#Member states , 39 * Intersputnik#Member states *

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

, 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 six members: the Kingdom of Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Republic, and Transjordan (Jordan from 1949). North Yemen (later becoming Yem ...

, 22 * Member states of the Dutch Language Union , 3 *

Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies. No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a po ...

, 52 * Member states of the Latin Union , 36 *

Member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries has nine member states. All have the Portuguese language as official language, and only East Timor and Equatorial Guinea have a second official language. In 2005, CPLP Council of Ministers meeting in ...

, 8 * Member states of the International Organization of the Francophonie *

Member states of the Organization of Ibero-American States The Organization of Ibero-American States ( es, Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, pt, Organização de Estados Iberoamericanos, ca, Organització d'Estats Iberoamericans; abbreviated as OEI), formally the Organization of Ibero-American ...

, 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 49 countries being Muslim majority countries. Some, especially in West Africa, are – though with large Muslim ...

, 57

Worldwide - commodity related

* Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency , 167 * Member states of OPEC , 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 There are 9 member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Membership status The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, when the ''CIS Charter'' (russian: Устав, ''Ustav'') was a ...

, 9 + 2 unofficial participants (

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

)

Military

Member states of NATO NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international military alliance that consists of 30 member states from Europe and North America. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Article 5 of th ...

, 30 ''In history:'' * Warsaw Pact#Members * Central Powers#Member states

References

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