A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization, federation, or confederation.
Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states, 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, which joined the United Nations System as a specialized agency after the creation of the UN.
Worldwide Member states of the United Nations | 193 Member states of the International Telecommunication Union | 193 Member states of UNESCO | 195 | 190 Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization | 184 Member states of the World Sports Alliance | 49 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 Member states of the World Trade Organization | 166
| 39
World Health Organization | 194
Worldwide - language related Member states of the Arab League | 22 Member states of the Dutch Language Union | 3 Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations | 56 Member states of the Latin Union | 36 Member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries | 8 Member states of the International Organization of the Francophonie Member states of the Organization of Ibero-American States | 24
Worldwide - religion related Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation | 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 Count Region Note Member states of the Council of Europe 47 Europe Member state of the European Union 27 Europe Member states of the European Economic Area 30 Europe EU + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway Member states of the European Environment Agency 32 Europe EU + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey Member states of the European Aviation Safety Agency 31 Europe EU + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland Member states of the European Union Customs Union 31 Europe EU + Turkey, San Marino, Andorra, Monaco Member states of the Eurozone 21 Europe Member states of the European Free Trade Association 4 Europe Member states of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Europe Central European Free Trade Agreement Europe Member states of the European Southern Observatory 15 Europe Nordic Council#Members 5 Europe Council of the Baltic Sea States#Member states Europe Western European and Others Group#WEOG Member States Europe Eastern European Group#Members Europe European Space Agency 22 Europe 1 Associate Canada Member states of the Organization of American States 35 America +75 Permanent Observers Member states of the Union of South American Nations 12 America Member states of Mercosur 5 America Member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas 8 America Member states of the Caribbean Community 15 America Association of Caribbean States#Member states 25 America Caribbean Meteorological Organisation America Inter-American Development Bank#Member states 48 America Member states of the African Union 55 Africa9 observer states + 1 suspended Southern African Development Community 14 Africa Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 11 Asia Member states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf 6 Asia Member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 6 Asia +5 observers United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia#Member states 14 Asia Economic Cooperation Organization#Member states 10 Asia Arctic Council#Member states 8 Arctic13 observers
Other Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States | 9 + 2 unofficial participants (Turkmenistan and Ukraine)
Military Member states of NATO | 32 In history:
References
See also Continental union Federated state State (country subdivision)