Accession to the OECD

Accession to the Organisation is a transformative process that helps a country to align with OECD standards and best practices and thereby improve economic and social outcomes for the coutnry and its citizens.

The OECD’s more than 60-year reputation for setting international standards and advancing policy on everything from trade and education to the digital transition and the environment enables it to help Member countries build domestic support to implement better reforms for better lives. (Learn more about the OECD.)

The OECD has grown from 20 founding Member countries in 1960 to 38 Members today from across Europe, North and South America and Asia-Pacific. Accession discussions are currently underway with eight countries: in 2022 the Organisation opened discussions with Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania, in 2024, it opened discussions with Indonesia and Thailand – the two largest Southeast Asian economies and the first from the region to start accession processes.

Becoming an OECD Member country involves a multi-year technical dialogue with a view to improving alignment with OECD standards and best practices. 

Following a request by a country to begin the process, the OECD Council decides whether to open accession discussions. The Council then adopts an Accession Roadmap for the country setting out the terms, conditions and process towards membership. In line with the Roadmap, up to 25 OECD expert committees engage in a series of technical discussions with a view to agreeing on recommendations as to how the country can best align with OECD standards and best practices.

The OECD works with countries around the world beyond its Members and those engaged in the accession process.

One of the three principal aims set out in the OECD’s founding Convention states that the Organisation will “contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development”. Accordingly, the OECD engages actively and increasingly with non-member countries all around the world.

This engagement takes place through a range of initiatives such as partnerships, country and regional programmes,  international co-operation on shared challenges such as climate change or tax policy, and through the OECD’s input to global fora such as the G7, the G20 and APEC. This engagement with countries around the world serves to advance the OECD’s mission to level the global playing field towards better policies for better lives.