List of member states of UNESCO

This is a list of the member states of UNESCO in order of their accession.

Map of the member states of UNESCO: UNESCO member states Dependent areas of UNESCO member states UNESCO-associated UNESCO member states that have announced their exit





Overview

195 states are currently members of UNESCO and 11 areas are associated members (as of October 2018). With the exception of Liechtenstein , all of the other 193 member states of the United Nations are UNESCO members, as are the Cook Islands , Niue and Palestine . Associate members are the following eleven territories: Anguilla , Aruba , British Virgin Islands , Cayman Islands , Curaçao , Faroe Islands , Macau , Montserrat , New Caledonia , Sint Maarten and Tokelau .

The Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta have the status of constant observer . Other observers are both the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science of the Arab League and the League itself, as well as the Council of Europe , the European Union , the Inter-American Development Bank , the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture , the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences , the Latin Union , the Education, Science and Culture Organization of the Ibero-American Summit, and finally the Organization for Islamic Cooperation .

Member States of UNESCO

The following table shows all states still in existence today that have ever been members, with the date of their accession. The country names are listed in their current form. Countries that have left or excluded are highlighted in light gray.

No.	Country	accession	Remarks
1	Egypt	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member as the Kingdom of Egypt
2	Australia	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
3	Brazil	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
4th	Republic of China	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member, excluded from UNESCO in 1971.
5	Denmark	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
6th	Dominican Republic	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
7th	France	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
8th	Greece	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
9	India	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
10	Canada	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
11	Lebanon	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
12	Mexico	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
13	New Zealand	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
14th	Norway	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
15th	Saudi Arabia	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
16	South Africa	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member of the South African Union ; Resigned on December 31, 1954, re-entered December 12, 1994 as Republic of South Africa .
17th	Czechoslovakia	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member; Dissolution of the state on December 31, 1992.
18th	Turkey	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member
19th	United States	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member; Resigned December 31, 1984; Re-entry Oct. 1, 2003, exit Dec. 31, 2018
20th	United Kingdom	0Nov 4, 1946	Founding member; Resigned December 31, 1985; Re-entry July 1, 1997
21st	Poland	0Nov 6, 1946	From 1946 to December 29, 1989 by the People's Republic of Poland .
22nd	Bolivia	Nov 13, 1946
23	Syria	Nov 16, 1946	Until 1963 as Syrian Republic , then Syrian Arab Republic.
24	Haiti	Nov 18, 1946
25th	Peru	Nov 21, 1946
26th	Philippines	Nov 21, 1946
27	Venezuela	Nov 25, 1946
28	Belgium	Nov 29, 1946
29	Netherlands	0Jan. 1, 1947
30th	Ecuador	Jan. 22, 1947
31	Liberia	06th Mar 1947
32	Cuba	Aug 29, 1947
33	Luxembourg	Oct. 27, 1947
34	Colombia	Oct 31, 1947
35	Uruguay	0Nov 8, 1947
36	Honduras	Dec 16, 1947
37	Italy	Jan. 27, 1948
38	El Salvador	Apr 28, 1948
39	Afghanistan	0May 4, 1948	until 1973 as the Kingdom of Afghanistan , then until 1978 as the Republic of Afghanistan and then until 1992 as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and since 2001 as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
40	Austria	Aug 13, 1948
41	Iran	06 Sep 1948	since 1979 as the Islamic Republic of Iran.
42	Hungary	Sep 14 1948	From 1949 to 1989 as the Hungarian People's Republic
43	Argentina	Sep 15 1948
44	Iraq	Oct 21, 1948	Until 1958 as the Kingdom of Iraq
45	Thailand	0Jan. 1, 1949	From January 1st to May 11th 1949 with the state name Siam .
46	Switzerland	Jan. 28, 1949
47	Myanmar	June 27, 1949	Until June 18, 1989 with the state name Burma .
48	Monaco	0July 6, 1949
49	Pakistan	Sep 14 1949
50	Israel	16 Sep 1949	Left on December 31, 2018
51	Sri Lanka	Nov 14, 1949	From 1949 to September 19, 1991 with the state name Ceylon .
52	Guatemala	0Jan. 2, 1950
53	Panama	Jan 10, 1950
54	Sweden	Jan. 23, 1950
55	Costa Rica	May 19, 1950
56	Indonesia	May 27, 1950
57	Jordan	June 14, 1950
58	South Korea	June 14, 1950
59	Japan	02nd July 1951
60	Cambodia	03rd July 1951	From 1975 to 1979 as the Democratic Kampuchea and from 1979 to 1989 as the People's Republic of Kampuchea
61	Vietnam	0July 6, 1951	Membership took place in 1951 through Bảo Đại of the autonomous state and transfer from 1951/1954 to 1976 to South Vietnam , then until today to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
62	Laos	0July 9, 1951	From 1951 to 1975 as the Kingdom of Laos and from December 2, 1975 as the People's Democratic Republic of Laos
63	Germany	July 11, 1951	From November 24, 1972 to October 3, 1990 as the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
64	Nicaragua	Feb 22, 1952
65	Spain	Jan. 30, 1953
66	Nepal	0May 1, 1953
67	Libya	June 27, 1953	From 1953 to 1969 as the Kingdom of Libya . From March 2, 1977 to August 2011 as the Libyan Arab People's Jamahiriya
68	Chile	0July 7, 1953
69	Russia	Apr 21, 1954	Accession as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), part of the Soviet Union until December 24, 1991, afterwards Russia (Russian Federation).
70	Ukraine	May 12, 1954	Accession as the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR), a part of the Soviet Union until August 24, 1991, then Ukraine.
71	Belarus	May 12, 1954	Accession as the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic (BSSR), part of the Soviet Union until September 19, 1991, then Belarus (Belarus).
72	Paraguay	June 20, 1955
73	Ethiopia	0July 1, 1955	From 1955 to 1974 as the Abyssinian Empire .
74	Bulgaria	17th May 1956	From 1956 to July 12, 1991 as the People's Republic of Bulgaria
75	Romania	July 27, 1956	1956 to 1965 as the People's Republic of Romania and from 1965 to 1989 as the Socialist Republic of Romania
76	Finland	Oct 10, 1956
77	Morocco	0Nov 7, 1956
78	Tunisia	0Nov 8, 1956
79	Sudan	Nov 26, 1956
80	Ghana	Apr 11, 1958
81	Malaysia	June 16, 1958
82	Albania	Oct 16, 1958	Until December 11, 1990 as the Socialist People's Republic of Albania
83	Guinea	0Feb. 2, 1960
84	Benin	Oct 18, 1960	From 1960 to the end of 1975 as the Republic of Dahomey
85	Republic of the Congo	Oct. 24, 1960	From 1969 to 1991 as the People's Republic of the Congo
86	Ivory Coast	Oct. 27, 1960
87	Mali	0Nov 7, 1960
88	Madagascar	Nov 10, 1960
89	Niger	Nov 10, 1960
90	Senegal	Nov 10, 1960
91	Cameroon	Nov 11, 1960
92	Central African Republic	Nov 11, 1960
93	Burkina Faso	Nov 14, 1960	Until August 4, 1984 the state name was Upper Volta .
94	Nigeria	Nov 14, 1960
95	Somalia	Nov 15, 1960
96	Gabon	Nov 16, 1960
97	Togo	Nov. 17, 1960
98	Kuwait	Nov 18, 1960
99	Democratic Republic of Congo	Nov 25, 1960	From 1971 to 1997 with the state name Zaire .
100	Chad	Dec. 19, 1960
101	Cyprus	0Feb 6, 1961
102	Ireland	0Oct 3, 1961
103	Mauritania	Jan. 10, 1962
104	Tanzania	06th Mar 1962
105	Sierra Leone	28 Mar 1962
106	Yemen	0Apr 2, 1962	From September 26, 1962 to May 22, 1990 the Yemeni Arab Republic (North Yemen) and from December 14, 1967 to May 22, 1990 also the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen)
107	Algeria	Oct 15, 1962
108	Mongolia	0Nov 1, 1962	From 1962 to 1990 as the Mongolian People's Republic
109	Trinidad and Tobago	0Nov 2, 1962
110	Jamaica	0Nov 7, 1962
111	Rwanda	0Nov 7, 1962
112	Uganda	0Nov 9, 1962
113	Burundi	Nov 16, 1962
114	Kenya	0Apr 7, 1964
115	Iceland	0June 8, 1964
116	Malawi	Oct. 27, 1964
117	Zambia	0Nov 9, 1964
118	Malta	Feb 10, 1965
119	Portugal	01st Mar 1965	Resigned December 31, 1972, re-entered September 11. 1974
120	Singapore	21 Sep 1965	Left December 31, 1986, re-entry October 8, 2007
121	Guyana	21 Mar 1967
122	Lesotho	29 Sep 1967
123	Barbados	Oct 24, 1968
124	Mauritius	Oct 25, 1968
125	People's Republic of China	Oct. 29, 1971	In return, the Republic of China lost its UNESCO seat.
126	Bahrain	Jan. 18, 1972
127	Qatar	Jan. 27, 1972
128	Oman	Feb 10, 1972
129	United Arab Emirates	Apr 20, 1972
130	Bangladesh	Oct. 27, 1972
131	Gambia	0Aug 1, 1973
132	North Korea	Oct 18, 1974
133	Guinea-Bissau	0Nov. 1, 1974
134	San Marino	Nov 12, 1974
135	Grenada	Feb. 17, 1975
136	Suriname	July 16, 1976
137	Papua New Guinea	0Oct. 4, 1976
138	Mozambique	Oct 11, 1976
139	Seychelles	Oct 18, 1976
140	Angola	11th Mar 1977
141	Comoros	22 Mar 1977
142	Swaziland	Jan. 25, 1978	Since 2018 as the Kingdom of Eswatini.
143	Cape Verde	Feb. 15, 1978
144	Namibia	0Nov 2, 1978	Until 1990 under the state name of South West Africa
145	Dominica	0Jan. 9, 1979
146	Equatorial Guinea	Nov 29, 1979
147	Botswana	Jan. 16, 1980
148	Sao Tome and Principe	Jan. 22, 1980
149	St. Lucia	06th Mar 1980
150	Maldives	July 18, 1980
151	Zimbabwe	22 Sep 1980
152	Tonga	29 Sep 1980
153	Samoa	0Apr 3, 1981
154	Bahamas	Apr 23, 1981
155	Bhutan	Apr 13, 1982
156	Belize	May 10, 1982
157	Antigua and Barbuda	July 15, 1982
158	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Feb. 15, 1983
159	Fiji	July 14, 1983
160	St. Kitts and Nevis	Oct 26, 1983
161	Djibouti	Aug 31, 1989
162	Cook Islands	Oct 17, 1989
163	Kiribati	Oct. 24, 1989
164	Lithuania	0Oct 7, 1991
165	Estonia	Oct 14, 1991
166	Latvia	Oct 14, 1991
167	Tuvalu	Oct 21, 1991
168	Kazakhstan	May 22, 1992
169	Moldova	May 27, 1992
170	Slovenia	May 27, 1992
171	Croatia	0June 1, 1992
172	Kyrgyzstan	02nd June 1992
173	Azerbaijan	03rd June 1992
174	Armenia	0June 9, 1992
175	Georgia	0Oct 7, 1992
176	Slovakia	0Feb 9, 1993
177	Czech Republic	Feb 22, 1993
178	Tajikistan	0Apr 6, 1993
179	Bosnia and Herzegovina	02nd June 1993
180	North Macedonia	June 28, 1993	until February 12, 2019: Republic of Macedonia
181	Turkmenistan	Aug 17, 1993
182	Eritrea	0Sep 2 1993
183	Solomon Islands	0Sep 7 1993
184	Andorra	Oct 20, 1993
185	Niue	Oct 26, 1993
186	Uzbekistan	Oct 26, 1993
187	Vanuatu	Feb 10, 1994
188	Marshall Islands	June 30, 1995
189	Nauru	Oct 17, 1996
190	Palau	Sep 20 1999
191	Micronesia	Oct 19, 1999
192	Serbia	Dec 20, 2000	The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a member from March 31, 1950 to September 22, 1992. A formal transfer of membership to Serbia and Montenegro in 1992 did not take place.
193	East Timor	0June 5, 2003
194	Brunei	17th Mar 2005
195	Montenegro	01st Mar 2007
196	South Sudan	Oct. 27, 2011
197	Palestine	Nov 23, 2011

Associate members

Association agreements have been concluded for the following territories .

No.	territory	association	Remarks
1	British Virgin Islands	Nov. 24, 1983
2	Aruba	Oct 20, 1987
3	Macau	Oct 25, 1995	until 1999 Portuguese colony, then PR China
4th	Cayman Islands	Oct 30, 1999
5	Tokelau	Oct 15, 2001
6th	Faroe Islands	Oct 12, 2009
7th	Curacao	Oct 25, 2011
8th	Sint Maarten	Oct 25, 2011
9	Anguilla	0Nov 5, 2013
10	Montserrat	0Nov 3, 2015
11	New Caledonia	Oct. 30, 2017

Web links

• List of UNESCO member states - German UNESCO Commission
• List of member states on the UNESCO website
• List of representatives of members and observers on the UNESCO website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} List of the 195 Members (and the 11 Associate Members) of UNESCO and the date on which they became members (or Associate Members) of the Organization. UNESCO, accessed December 1, 2017 . 
2. ^ T. Davenport, C. Saunders: South Africa: A Modern History . 5th edition. 2000, ISBN 978-0-333-79223-0 , pp. 518 , doi : 10.1057 / 9780230287549 (English).
3. ^ Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura. (No longer available online.) Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs , February 29, 2016, archived from the original on October 14, 2017 ; Retrieved October 13, 2017 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ KEY FACTS AND FIGURES ON PORTUGAL / UNESCO COOPERATION. (No longer available online.) Unesco.org/, May 15, 2017, archived from the original on June 27, 2017 ; accessed on October 13, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.