Members of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations was founded on October 24, 1945, and has worldwide scope and membership, though not all countries are members of the UN, and the admission of some members has sometimes sparked political controversy. New members are admitted to the UN on the recommendation of the Security Council and by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly.

The table provides a list of current UN members.

United Nations membership
1945 Argentina, Australia, Belarus (Belorussia), Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia (U.S.S.R.)1, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia2
1946 Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, Thailand
1947 Pakistan, Yemen3
1948 Myanmar (Burma)
1949 Israel
1950 Indonesia
1955 Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
1956 Japan, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia
1957 Ghana, Malaysia
1958 Guinea
1960 Benin (Dahomey), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (capital at Brazzaville), Congo (Zaire; capital at Kinshasa), Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cyprus, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Togo
1961 Mauritania, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania4
1962 Algeria, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda
1963 Kenya, Kuwait
1964 Malawi, Malta, Zambia
1965 The Gambia, Maldives, Singapore
1966 Barbados, Botswana, Guyana, Lesotho
1968 Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Swaziland
1970 Fiji
1971 Bahrain, Bhutan, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates
1973 The Bahamas, Germany5
1974 Bangladesh, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau
1975 Cape Verde, Comoros, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Suriname
1976 Angola, Samoa, Seychelles
1977 Djibouti, Vietnam
1978 Dominica, Solomon Islands
1979 Saint Lucia
1980 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Zimbabwe
1981 Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Vanuatu
1983 Saint Kitts and Nevis
1984 Brunei
1990 Liechtenstein, Namibia
1991 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, North Korea, South Korea
1992 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
1993 Andorra, Czech Republic6, Eritrea, Macedonia, Monaco, Slovakia6
1994 Palau
1999 Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga
2000 Tuvalu
2002 East Timor, Switzerland
2006 Montenegro2
2011 South Sudan
1The seat held by the U.S.S.R. was assumed by Russia in 1991.
2The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a member from 1945 until its dissolution following the establishment and admission of the new member states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia (1992), Macedonia (1993), and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (2000), the last reconstituted as Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. In 2006 Serbia and Montenegro split into separate countries.
3North Yemen (capital at San‘a’) merged in 1990 with South Yemen (capital at Aden). Upon unification, there was one membership.
4Tanganyika merged in 1964 with Zanzibar. The country’s name after the merger became Tanzania, with a single UN membership.
5East Germany and West Germany were admitted as separate members in 1973. Upon unification of the two countries in 1990, there was one membership.
6Czechoslovakia, a member from 1945, split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in 1993.

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Members of the United Nations
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