OECD

The **Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development** (**OECD**) is an international organisation of countries. Member countries of OECD all have a democratic system of government. They also accept the principle of a free economy. A country has a free economy when its government does not control the economic activities of its citizens and companies.

The OECD started 1948 as the **Organisation for European Economic Co-operation** (OEEC). The Second World War had just ended three years before in 1945. Some countries of Europe came together to form OEEC to help each other re-build their industry and other things destroyed in the Second World War. Later on, some non-European countries also joined this organisation. In 1960, OEEC changed its name, and it became OECD: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The OECD's headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris.

## Secretaries General

|No.|Secretary-General|Time served|Country of origin|Notes|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|align="left"|Thorkil Kristensen|30 September 1961 – 30 September 1969|align="left"|Denmark||
|2|align="left"|Emiel van Lennep|1 October 1969 – 30 September 1984|align="left"|Netherlands||
|3|align="left"|Jean-Claude Paye|1 October 1984 – 30 September 1994|align="left"|France||
|—|align="left"|Staffan Sohlman (interim)|1 October 1994 – November 1994|align="left"|Sweden||
|3|align="left"|Jean-Claude Paye|November 1994 – 31 May 1996|align="left"|France||
|4|align="left"|Donald Johnston|1 June 1996 – 31 May 2006|align="left"|Canada||
|5|align="left"|José Ángel Gurría|1 June 2006 – 31 May 2021|align="left"|Mexico||
|6|align="left"|Mathias Cormann|1 June 2021 – present|align="left"|Australia||

## Members

OECD has thirty-eight member countries, of which 19 became members in 1961. These countries are:
1. Austria
1. Belgium
1. Canada
1. Denmark
1. France
1. Germany
1. Greece
1. Iceland
1. Ireland
1. Luxembourg
1. Netherlands
1. Norway
1. Portugal
1. Spain
1. Sweden
1. Switzerland
1. Turkey
1. United Kingdom
1. United States

19 countries joined OECD after 1961. The names of these countries (with the year they joined in brackets), are:
1. Italy (1962)
1. Japan (1964)
1. Finland (1969)
1. Australia (1971)
1. New Zealand (1973)
1. Mexico (1994)
1. Czechia (1995)
1. Hungary (1996)
1. South Korea (1996)
1. Poland(1996)
1. Slovakia (2000)
1. Chile (2010)
1. Estonia (2010)
1. Israel (2010)
1. Slovenia (2010)
1. Latvia (2016)
1. Lithuania (2018)
1. Colombia (2020)
1. Costa Rica (2021)

## Other websites

- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- OECD iLibrary - OECD's portal for books, reports, statistics, working papers and journals
- International Futures Programme
- OECD Forum
- Text of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
- The OECD Observer
- OECD Statistical portal
- OECD-UNDP Partnership for Democratic Governance
- Statistics
- Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes

### Video clips

- OECD YouTube channel

## Infobox (geopolitical organisation)

- **linking name**: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- **symbol type**: Logo
- **image symbol**: OECD logo.svg
- **symbol width**: 200px
- **image map**: OECD member states map.svg
- **map caption**: <div style="text-align:left; padding-left:1em; font-size:110%;"> </div>
- **admin center type**: Secretariat
- **official languages**: English language, English
French language, French
- **leader name1**: Mathias Cormann
- **established event1**: as the OEEC<sup>a</sup>
- **established date1**: 16 April 1948
- **established event2**: reformed as the OECD
- **established date2**: 30 September 1961
- **official website**: [http://www.oecd.org/ www.OECD.org]
- **footnote a**: Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.
- **conventional long name**: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development