The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1961. Comprising 38 member countries committed to democracy and market economies, the OECD serves as a forum for comparing policy experiences, addressing shared challenges, identifying best practices, and coordinating domestic and international policies. Its primary objective is to foster economic progress and global trade among its member nations through collaborative efforts and the sharing of knowledge and expertise.
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 European recipients of Marshall Plan aid to reconstruct Europe after World War II.
Following the end of Marshall aid in 1952, the OEEC shifted its focus to 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 OEEC.
In 1957, the Rome Treaties, which established the European Economic Community and Euratom, challenged the coordinating role of the OEEC.
In 1958, the European Nuclear Energy Agency was established in response to Euratom.
In January 1960, meetings began at the Hotel Majestic in Paris to discuss adapting the OEEC to fulfil a more global mission.
On 14 December 1960, the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was signed.
In 1960, René Sergent's tenure as Secretary-General of the OEEC ended.
In September 1961, the OECD officially superseded the OEEC, consisting of the European founder countries of the OEEC, the United States, and Canada.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 established.
Following the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD began assisting countries in Central Europe to prepare 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.
In 1991, the "Partners in Transition" program was launched to offer a partnership to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.
In 1992, Kumiharu Shigehara becomes OECD Chief Economist and Head of Economics Department.
Since 1995, the OECD has published and updated the Transfer Pricing Guidelines, serving as a template for profit allocation of inter-company transactions to countries.
In 1996, Donald Johnston's tenure as OECD Secretary-General starts.
In 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become members of the OECD.
In 1996, the OECD's multilateral surveillance was systematically reviewed in Kumiharu Shigehara's "Multilateral Surveillance: What the OECD can offer?"
In 1997, Kumiharu Shigehara becomes OECD Deputy Secretary-General.
In 1997, Pierre Vinde estimated that the cost borne by the member countries for participating in OECD activities is equivalent to the cost of running the secretariat.
Since 1998, all OECD titles and databases published are accessible via OECD iLibrary.
In 1999, Kumiharu Shigehara's tenure as OECD Deputy Secretary-General ended.
In 2000, Slovakia, South Korea and Mexico became members of the OECD.
In May 2004, the working group's recommendations for OECD enlargement were presented at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting.
In 2006, Donald Johnston's tenure as OECD Secretary-General ends.
In May 2007, the OECD decided to open accession negotiations with Russia.
In March 2008, the OECD published the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030.
In 2010, the OECD Observer appeared six times a year.
In 2011, the OECD Observer became quarterly with the introduction of the OECD Yearbook.
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 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 March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to its role in the 2014 Annexation of Crimea.
In July 2014, the OECD publicly released its main statistical databases through the OECD Data Portal.
In 2015, the Organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania.
On 1 July 2016, Latvia became a member of the OECD.
In July 2017, the latest version of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines incorporates the Actions developed under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project initiated by the G20.
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 join the OECD.
On 5 July 2018, Lithuania became a member of the OECD.
In a letter of 5 February 2019, Donald Johnston noted that 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.
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.
In January 2021, the Dutch Caribbean and the British territories of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and Bermuda were included as part of the OECD memberships of the Netherlands and the U.K., respectively.
As of May 2021, there are 38 members of the OECD.
In 2021, the OECD operated on a two-year budget determined by member countries, with annual revenues over 700 million EUR during the 2021–2022 reporting period.
In the first quarter of 2021, the OECD Observer website closed; 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.
In 2022, the OECD operated on a two-year budget determined by member countries, with annual revenues over 700 million EUR during the 2021–2022 reporting period.
In July 2024, the OECD announced that it has transitioned to an open-access information model using Creative Commons CC‑BY‑4.0 attribution licenses.
In July 2024, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD were adopted with Thailand.
As of 2024, OECD member countries collectively have a population of 1.38 billion people, an average life expectancy of 80 years, and a median age of 40.
In 2024, assessed contributions to the "Part I Budget" totalled an estimated 229.9m EUR, making it the largest single source of revenue for the OECD. These contributions are based on both the number of OECD members and the proportional size of their national economies.