The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1961 with 38 member countries. It serves as a forum for countries committed to democracy and market economies to collaborate on economic and social progress, compare policy experiences, address shared challenges, identify best practices, and coordinate both domestic and international policies. The OECD's primary goal is to stimulate economic progress and world trade among its member nations.
The OECD Library & Archives collection dates from 1947, including records from the Committee for European Economic Co-operation (CEEC) and the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), predecessors of today's OECD.
In April 1948, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) was established among the European recipients of Marshall Plan aid for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.
Following the end of Marshall aid in 1952, the OEEC shifted its focus to addressing economic issues.
In 1954, the Free Territory of Trieste (Zone A) merged with Italy and ceased to exist as an independent territorial entity, ending its membership in the OEEC.
In 1955, René Sergent became the Secretary-General of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), succeeding Robert Marjolin.
In 1957, the OEEC's coordinating role faced challenges after the Rome Treaties established the European Economic Community and Euratom.
In 1958, the European Nuclear Energy Agency was established within the OEEC in response to Euratom.
Beginning in January 1960, meetings were held at the Hotel Majestic in Paris to discuss reconstituting the OEEC into a more global organization.
On 14 December 1960, the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was signed.
In 1960, René Sergent's term as Secretary-General of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) came to an end.
In September 1961, the OECD officially superseded the OEEC, consisting of the European founder countries of the OEEC, with the additions of the United States and Canada.
In 1961, the OECD Development Centre was created.
In 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was founded with 38 member countries to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
In 1962, the OECD Observer, an award-winning magazine, was launched.
In 1974, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was created by the OECD.
Following the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD began assisting countries in Central Europe to prepare for market economy reforms.
On 3 October 1990, East Germany joined the OECD through reunification with West Germany.
In 1990, the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition was established by the OECD.
In 1991, the OECD launched the "Partners in Transition" program to offer a partnership to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.
In 1992, Kumiharu Shigehara was appointed as the OECD Chief Economist and Head of Economics Department.
Since 1995, the OECD has published and updated the Transfer Pricing Guidelines, which serve as a template for the profit allocation of inter-company transactions to countries.
In 1996, Donald Johnston became the OECD Secretary-General.
In 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing their willingness to become members of the OECD; Slovenia also applied for membership that year.
In 1996, Kumiharu Shigehara published "Multilateral Surveillance: What the OECD can offer?", a review of the OECD's multilateral surveillance.
In 1996, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Mexico became members of the OECD.
In 1997, Kumiharu Shigehara was appointed as the OECD Deputy Secretary-General.
In 1997, former Deputy Secretary-General Pierre Vinde estimated that the cost borne by the member countries, such as sending their officials to OECD meetings and maintaining permanent delegations, is equivalent to the cost of running the secretariat.
Since 1998, all titles and databases published by the OECD can be accessed via OECD iLibrary.
In 1999, Kumiharu Shigehara's term as OECD Deputy Secretary-General ended.
On 13 May 2004, recommendations from the working group, headed by ambassador Seiichiro Noboru, regarding the enlargement with non-members were presented at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting.
In 2006, Donald Johnston's term as OECD Secretary-General ended.
In May 2007, the OECD decided to open accession negotiations with Russia.
In March 2008, the OECD published the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030, which argues that tackling key environmental problems is both achievable and affordable.
In 2010, the OECD Observer magazine transitioned from appearing six times a year to quarterly.
In 2011, the OECD Yearbook was introduced for the 50th anniversary of the organization.
In September 2012, the government of Bulgaria confirmed it would apply for membership before the OECD Secretariat.
In 2013, the OECD decided to open membership talks with Colombia and Latvia.
In Q2 2013, an OECD Observer Crossword was introduced in the OECD Observer magazine.
In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to Russia's role in that year's Crimean annexation and continuous human and civil rights abuses.
In July 2014, the OECD publicly released its main statistical databases through the OECD Data Portal, an online platform.
In 2015, the Organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania regarding membership.
On 1 July 2016, Latvia became a member of the OECD.
As of 2017, OECD member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP (USD 49.6 trillion) and 42.8% of global GDP (Int$54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity.
On 30 May 2018, Colombia signed the accession agreement to become a member of the OECD.
On 5 July 2018, Lithuania became a member of the OECD.
In his letter of 5 February 2019, Donald Johnston, OECD Secretary-General (1996–2006), noted that Kumiharu Shigehara's "book is very important for the OECD where there is little living institutional memory".
The OECD Observer was last issued in the fourth quarter of 2019, with a double edition looking ahead at artificial intelligence.
On 28 April 2020, Colombia officially became a member of the OECD.
On 15 May 2020, the OECD decided to extend a formal invitation for Costa Rica to join the OECD.
In 2020, the inaugural University Press Redux Sustainability Award was given to OECD for the development of the SDG Pathfinder, an open-access digital discovery tool.
As of January 2021, the Dutch Caribbean and the British territories of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and Bermuda are included as part of the OECD memberships of the Netherlands and the U.K., respectively.
The OECD Observer website closed in the first quarter of 2021; the archive can be consulted at www.oecd.org.
In March 2022, Belarus was suspended from any participation in the OECD.
In June 2022, during the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD Convention for Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania were adopted.
The OECD operated on a two-year budget determined by member countries with annual revenues over €900 million in 2023.
In July 2024, the OECD announced that it "has transitioned to [an] open-access information model" and that Creative Commons CC‑BY‑4.0 attribution licenses will be used on all data and publications.
In July 2024, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD were adopted with Thailand.
As of 2024, the collective population of OECD member countries is 1.38 billion people, with an average life expectancy of 80 years and a median age of 40.
In 2024, assessed contributions to the "Part I Budget", totaling an estimated 229.9m EUR, were the largest single source of revenue for the OECD, based on the number of OECD members and the proportional size of their national economies.
The OECD operated on a two-year budget determined by member countries with annual revenues over €900 million in 2024.
As of June 2025, the OECD has 38 members.
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