Member states of UNESCO

As of July 2023, UNESCO members include 194 member states and 12 associate members. Some members have additional National Organizing Committees (NOCs) for some of their dependent territories. The associate members are non-independent states.

Three UNESCO member states are not UN member states: Cook Islands, Niue, and Palestine (Palestine is a non-member observer State of the United Nations General Assembly since 29 November 2012), while UN member states Israel and Liechtenstein are not UNESCO members. Israel and the United States left on 31 December 2018 asserting that the organization had an anti-Israel bias. The United States later reversed its decision in 2023, and was readmitted by the UNESCO General Conference that July.

Kosovo was approved for membership by UNESCO's executive board in 2015, but the proposal did not receive the required 2/3 of votes in favour at the general conference.

Member states

The 194 UNESCO member states, as of July 2023, with the date on which they became members, are:

Currently  Liechtenstein is not a member of UNESCO, but they have an NOC under Switzerland's membership.

Former members

•  Israel (16 September 1949 – 31 December 2018)

Both Israel and the United States withdrew claiming that the organization had an anti-Israel bias, with the United States moving to rejoin in 2023.

Associate members

The 12 associate members of UNESCO and the date on which they became associate members:

•  Åland Islands (9 November 2021)
•  Anguilla (5 November 2013)
•  Aruba (20 October 1987)
•  British Virgin Islands (24 November 1983)
•  Cayman Islands (30 October 1999)
•  Curaçao (25 October 2011)
•  Faroes (12 October 2009)
•  Macau (25 October 1995)
•  Montserrat (3 November 2015)
•  New Caledonia (30 October 2017)
•  Sint Maarten (25 October 2011)
•  Tokelau (15 October 2001)

Observers

There are 2 Permanent Observers and 10 intergovernmental organizations with Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO.

Non-member States

•  Holy See

Entities

•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Intergovernmental organizations

• African Union
• Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization
• Council of Europe
• European Union
• Inter-American Development Bank
• Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences
• Latin Union
• League of Arab States
• Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture

In addition, there is a liaison office of the United Nations University at UNESCO.

See also

• Member states of the United Nations

Notes

References