Groups of countries or regions are often referred to by a single term (word, phrase, or abbreviation). The origins of such terms include political alliances, intergovernmental organizations, business market areas, and mere colloquialism.
A ABC nations: Argentina, Brazil, and Chile AfPak: Afghanistan and Pakistan African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of all fifty-four internationally recognized African nations plus the disputed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA): socialist leaning political and economic integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries. Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO): promotion of sustainable development of the Amazon Basin AMEA: Asia, Middle East and Africa America (AMER): Usage varies; it may refer to just the United States of America, or just North America, or all of North and South America combined, or some other combination. Americas (AMS or AMERS): Usage varies; often refers to all of North and South America combined. AMET: Africa, Middle East and Türkiye AMS: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino Andean Community (Spanish: Comunidad Andina or CAN): Free trade area consisting of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. ANZ: Australia and New Zealand ANZUK: trilateral relations between Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. APAC: Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region APJ: Asia Pacific and Japan APMA: Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa APSG: Asia Pacific and Singapore Arab League: a regional organization of Arab countries Arab Maghreb Union: a regional organisation comprising five Arab and North African states Arraiolos Group is an informal meeting of presidents of parliamentary and semi-presidential European Union member states. ASEAN: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional organisation comprising all eleven Southeast Asian states ASEAN+3: the ASEAN countries, plus China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). ASEAN+5: the ASEAN countries with Japan, India, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand. ASEAN+6 along with China. Assembly of European Regions Association of Caribbean States AUKUS: Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States Axis of evil: Iran, Ba'athist Iraq, and North Korea B Balkan states: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey; Romania and Slovenia are sometimes included. Baltics, three sovereign states in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. BASIC countries, four large newly industrialized countries, Brazil, South Africa, India, China, to act jointly on climate change and emissions reduction BBIN: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal Benelux Union is a politico-economic union of three neighbouring states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Big Four (Western Europe) refers to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. These countries are considered major European powers and they are the Western European countries individually represented as full members of the G7, the G8, the G-10 and the G20. This also has an impact on the Eurovision Song Contest, when these countries added to Spain, are turned the BIG 5. Big Five (association football): England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain BIMSTEC, a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia around the Bay of Bengal to promote technological and economic co-operation, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. BRIC (economics term): Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates BSEC, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, is a regional organization focusing on multilateral political and economic initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation in the Black Sea region. Bucharest Nine: a group of nine Eastern-European NATO states including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia
C CAC: Central America and Caribbean CALA: Central America and Latin America, or the Caribbean and Latin America CAME: Central Asia and the Middle East CANZUK, the current personal union and proposed international organization composed of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. CARICOM, Caribbean Community, an organization of fifteen Caribbean nations and dependencies CARIFTA: Caribbean Free Trade Association CEFTA, the Central European Free Trade Agreement, current members: Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and North Macedonia Celtic nations: Linguistic and cultural grouping consisting of countries and regions where the Celtic languages are spoken: Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland (including the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), the Isle of Man, Scotland, and Wales. CEN-SAD: The Community of Sahel–Saharan States Central American Integration System CIVETS, six emerging markets countries: Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa, a diverse and dynamic economy and a young, growing population CLMV, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in south east Asia, members of ASEAN Comecon, formally the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, consisted of socialist economies within the Communist world: the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam. The organization existed from 1949 to 1991 during the Cold War. COMESA, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, a group of disputed states forging closer political ties. Members include Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), political alliance between the former Soviet Republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova (suspended participation), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (associate member), Uzbekistan. Commonwealth of Nations, fifty-six member states that are mostly Dominions or former territories of the British Empire. Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC): regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states Community of Portuguese Language Countries, nine member states that are mostly Republics or former territories of the Portuguese Empire. Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and observer members Serbia and Afghanistan. Council of Europe, political alliance of 46 European countries. CEE: Central and Eastern Europe CUSA: Canada and the United States Craiova Group: cooperation project of four European statesRomania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbiafor the purposes of furthering their European integration as well as economic, transport and energy cooperation with one another. CRINK: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea D Developed countries Developing countries Development Assistance Committee (DAC), to discuss issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries, the world's major donor countries, Australia, European Union, Iceland, New Zealand, South Korea, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Denmark, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovenia, and United States. DACH: Majority German-speaking states of Central Europe (excludes the Principality of Liechtenstein). Utilises the German name of Germany and the Latin names of Austria and Switzerland. Germany (), Austria () and Switzerland (), with meaning "roof" in German. The term is sometimes extended to D-A-CH-Li, DACHL, or DACH+ to include Liechtenstein. Another version is DACHS (with meaning "badger" in German) with the inclusion of the German-speaking region of South Tyrol in Italy.Example: D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D8): An organization aimed to facilitate cooperation among the largely Muslim countries: Azerbaijan (the last addition in 2025, making them 9 member states), Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. D-10 Strategy Forum: ten "leading democracies", Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom and United States
E East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of eight countries in the African Great Lakes region in eastern Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and the DRC. ECCAS: The Economic Community of Central African States. ECGLC: The Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries, consisting of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda ECOWAS: The Economic Community of West African States, a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Eastern Partnership, a group of former soviet republics forging closer economic and political ties with the European Union. Members include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, a political and economic organization, a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities, the objective is to establish a single market for goods and services. EEA: The European Economic Area, which contains the European Union countries, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein EAEU: Eurasian Economic Union, an economic union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and observer members Iran, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Cuba. Eight-Nation Alliance: military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion Eurabia: Islamophobic conspiracy theory that posits that globalist entities, led by French and Arab powers, aim to Islamize and Arabize Europe. EU, The European Union, a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. EU+EEA+CH: The European Union + the European Economic Area + Switzerland, sign visible very often shown on the Schengen Area airports Euronest Parliamentary Assembly: Interparliamentary forum between the EU and Eastern Partnership member states. EFTA: European Free Trade Association EMEA: Europe, the Middle East and Africa EMEAI: Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India EPC: Political forum of 47 European countries.
F Five Eyes (FVEY), is an anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS): Cooperation of stock-exchanges from Eastern Europe and West Asia. Four Asian Tigers: also called "Four Asian Dragons" or "Four Little Dragons", are the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates, now developed into advanced and high-income economies. Four Policemen: United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States and Republic of China FLAME: France-Latin America relationship Francamérique: French Overseas region and collectivities in the Americas FRES: France and Spain (in Spanish as España) FRIT: France and Italy FRITES: France, Italy and Spain (in Spanish as España) FRITESPOR: France, Italy, Spain and Portugal (in Spanish as España)
G Global North and Global South