Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation founded in 1969 has 57 members, 56 of which are also member states of the United Nations, with 48 countries being Muslim majority countries. Some member countries, especially in West Africa and South America, such as Ivory Coast, Guyana, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Suriname, Togo and Uganda – though with large Muslim populations – are not necessarily Muslim majority countries.^[1] A few countries with significant Muslim populations, such as Russia and Thailand, sit as Observer States.

Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Member states of the OIC in dark green, observer states in light green, suspended states in purple.
Category	Sovereign state
Location	Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Created	1969
Number	57 members & 5 observer states (as of 2022)
Possible types	Republics (47) Monarchies (10)
Populations	2 billion

The collective population of OIC member states is over 2 billion as of 2022.

Member states

Continent
Africa	Asia	Europe	South America	Transcontinental

Member state	Joined	Population	Muslim percentage	Area (km2)	Languages	Notes
Afghanistan Capital: Kabul	1969	41,144,133[2]	99.7[3]	652,230	Dari Pashto	Suspended 1980 – March 1989.
Algeria Capital: Algiers	1969	45,847,599[2]	97.9[4]	2,381,741	Arabic Tamazight
Chad Capital: N'Djamena	1969	17,616,172[2]	55.3[5]	1,284,000	Arabic French
Egypt Capital: Cairo	1969	107,206,514[2]	94.9[6]	1,002,450	Arabic	Originally as  United Arab Republic. Suspended May 1979 – March 1984 after signing a peace treaty with Israel.[7]
Guinea[note 1] Capital: Conakry	1969	14,033,298[2]	84.4[8]	245,857	French
Indonesia Capital: Jakarta	1969	280,813,676[2]	87.2[9]	1,904,569	Indonesian
Iran Capital: Tehran	1969	86,708,850[2]	99.5[10]	1,648,195	Persian Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages Kurdish
Jordan Capital: Amman	1969	10,458,701[2]	97.2[11]	89,342	Arabic
Kuwait Capital: Kuwait City	1969	4,429,966[2]	74.1[12]	17,818	Arabic
Lebanon Capital: Beirut	1969	6,748,419[2]	61.3[13]	10,452	Arabic
Libya Capital: Tripoli	1969	7,107,348[2]	96.6[14]	1,759,540	Arabic
Malaysia Capital: Kuala Lumpur	1969	33,412,468[2]	63.7[15]	330,803	Malay
Mali Capital: Bamako	1969	21,723,855[2]	94.4[16]	1,240,192	Bambara
Mauritania Capital: Nouakchott	1969	4,957,932[2]	99.1[17]	1,030,700	Arabic
Morocco Capital: Rabat	1969	38,013,335[2]	99.9[18]	446,550	Arabic Tamazight
Niger Capital: Niamey	1969	17,138,707[2]	98.4[19]	1,267,000	French
Pakistan Capital: Islamabad	1969	207,774,520[2]	96.4[20]	881,912	Urdu English
Palestine[21]	1969[22]	4,420,549[2]	97.6[23][note 2]	6,220	Arabic
Saudi Arabia Capital: Riyadh	1969	29,994,272[2]	93.0[24]	2,149,690	Arabic
Senegal Capital: Dakar	1969	12,873,601[2]	96.4[25]	196,722	French
Somalia Capital: Mogadishu	1969	10,806,000[2]	99.8[26]	637,657	Arabic Somali
Sudan Capital: Khartoum	1969	37,289,406[2]	90.7[27][note 3]	1,886,068	Arabic English
Tunisia Capital: Tunis	1969	10,886,500[2]	99.5[29]	163,610	Arabic
Turkey Capital: Ankara	1969	76,667,864[2]	97.8[30]	783,562	Turkish
Yemen Capital: Sana'a	1969	25,235,000[2]	99.1[31]	527,968	Arabic	Joined separately as  North Yemen and  South Yemen. Both unified in 1990.
Bahrain Capital: Manama	1970	1,234,571[2]	70.3[32]	765	Arabic
Oman Capital: Muscat	1970	4,020,000[2]	85.9[33]	309,500	Arabic
Qatar Capital: Doha	1970	2,174,035[2]	67.7[34]	11,586	Arabic
Syria Capital: Damascus	1970	21,987,000[2]	92.8[35]	185,180	Arabic Kurdish	Suspended in August 2012 during the Syrian civil war.[36]
United Arab Emirates Capital: Abu Dhabi	1971	9,446,000[2]	76.9[37]	83,600	Arabic
Sierra Leone Capital: Freetown	1972	6,190,280[2]	78.0[38]	71,740	English
Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka	1974	165,158,616[39]	90.4[40]	147,570	Bengali
Gabon Capital: Libreville	1974	1,711,000[2]	11.2[41]	267,668	French
The Gambia Capital: Banjul	1974	1,882,450[2]	95.1[42]	11,295	English
Guinea-Bissau Capital: Bissau	1974	1,746,000[2]	45.1[43]	36,125	Portuguese
Uganda Capital: Kampala	1974	47,729,952[2]	11.5[44]	241,550	English Swahili
Burkina Faso[note 4] Capital: Ouagadougou	1975	22,489,126[2]	61.6[45]	274,200	French
Cameroon Capital: Yaoundé	1975	30,135,732[2]	18.3[46]	475,442	French English
Comoros Capital: Moroni	1976	850,886[2]	98.3[47]	2,235	Comorian French Arabic
Iraq Capital: Baghdad	1976	43,500,000[2]	99.0[48]	438,317	Arabic Kurdish
Maldives Capital: Malé	1976	317,280[2]	98.4[49]	300	Dhivehi
Djibouti Capital: Djibouti	1978	886,000[2]	96.9[50]	23,200	Arabic French
Benin Capital: Porto-Novo	1982	9,988,068[2]	23.8[51]	112,622	French
Brunei Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan	1984	393,162[2]	75.1[52]	5,765	Malay
Nigeria Capital: Abuja	1986	206,630,269[2]	53.5[53]	923,768	English
Azerbaijan Capital: Baku	1991	9,477,100[2]	96.9[54]	86,600	Azerbaijani
Albania Capital: Tirana	1992	2,821,977[2]	56.7[55]	28,748	Albanian
Kyrgyzstan Capital: Bishkek	1992	5,976,570[2]	88.0[56]	199,951	Kyrgyz Russian
Tajikistan Capital: Dushanbe	1992	8,860,000[2]	96.7[57]	143,100	Tajiki
Turkmenistan Capital: Ashgabat	1992	5,607,000[2]	93.0[58]	488,100	Turkmen
Mozambique Capital: Maputo	1994	23,700,715[2]	18.0[59]	801,590	Portuguese
Kazakhstan Capital: Astana	1995	17,244,000[2]	70.4[60]	2,724,900	Kazakh Russian
Uzbekistan Capital: Tashkent	1995	33,492,800[2]	96.7[61]	447,400	Uzbek
Suriname Capital: Paramaribo	1996	534,189[2]	15.2[62]	163,820	Dutch
Togo Capital: Lomé	1997	6,993,000[2]	14.0[63]	56,785	French
Guyana Capital: Georgetown	1998	784,894[2]	6.4[64]	214,969	English
Côte d'Ivoire Capital: Yamoussoukro	2001	23,202,000[2]	42.5[65]	322,463	French

Observer states

Observer state	Joined	Population	Muslim percentage	Area (km2)	Languages	Notes
Bosnia and Herzegovina Capital: Sarajevo	1994	3,791,622[2]	50.7[66]	51,209	Bosnian Serbian Croatian	Given an invitation in 2013 by the OIC to join as a full member.[67]
Central African Republic Capital: Bangui	1997	4,709,000[2]	8.5[68]	622,984	French
Northern Cyprus Capital: Nicosia	1979[69]	382,836[70]	99[71][note 5]	3,355	Turkish	Further details Recognised only by Turkey. Under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", it is an observer state of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation[69] and the Economic Cooperation Organization. Northern Cyprus is claimed in whole by the Republic of Cyprus.[73] Designation changed in 2004[74] Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates requested at September 2014's summit of the OIC in New York City that the Turkish Cypriot State not be referred to in the meeting conclusions.[75][76][77] OIC SG received the president and foreign minister of Northern Cyprus.[78][79] In 2017, Northern Cyprus was represented with its official name "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" for the first time at an OIC conference in Saudi Arabia.[80][81]
Thailand Capital: Bangkok	1998	64,456,700[2]	5.5[82]	513,120	Thai
Russia Capital: Moscow	2005	146,048,500[2]	10.0[83]	17,125,242	Russian

Withdrawn

Suspended or withdrawn state	Joined	Notes
Zanzibar	1993	Withdrew August 1993

Observer organisations and communities

Organisation or community	Joined	Notes
Moro National Liberation Front	1977	Blocking membership of the Philippines

Observer Islamic institutions

Islamic institution	Joined	Notes
Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States	2000
Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation	2005

Observer international organisations

Organisation	Joined	Notes
League of Arab States	1975
United Nations	1976
Non-Aligned Movement	1977
African Union	1977
Economic Cooperation Organization	1995

Collaborating organization[84]

Organisation
European Union

Membership attempts

•  Belarus – Requested observer status in 2010.^[85][86]
•  Brazil – Requested observer status in 2011.^[87]
•  Central African Republic – Requested full membership in 2002.^[85][88]
•  China – Requested observer status in 2012.^[89]
•  Democratic Republic of Congo – Requested observer status in 2008^[90] and full membership in 2011.^[86]
•  India – India, where Muslims are a very big population had shown an interest in joining the OIC as a member state at the time of its formation.^[91] However, it was opposed by Pakistan. India has never made a formal application to join OIC as an observer or as a member state.^[92] While India's potential candidacy is supported by some OIC members,^[93] Pakistan's strong opposition and threat to boycott the OIC has effectively led to India's inclusion in the OIC being blocked. The Pakistan Foreign Office has argued that India's inclusion in OIC would violate the rules of the OIC, which require that an aspirant state should not have an ongoing conflict with a member state.^[94]
•  Kenya – Requested full membership in 2011.^[86]
•  Liberia – Requested full membership in November 2016.^[95]
•  Mauritius – Requested full membership in 2002.^[85][88]
•    Nepal – Requested observer status in 2008.^[90]
•  Philippines – Requested observer status in 2008.^[90] The Philippine government has made attempts to join the OIC, but this is opposed by the Moro National Liberation Front, an OIC observer located in the Philippines. The MNLF claims that Philippine membership is unnecessary^{[citation needed]}. In 2009, the country's bid received stronger support and has been advocated by Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.^{[96][97][98][99]} In 2019, one of the leaders of the MNLF, Nir Misuari, was appointed as a special envoy to the organization.^[100]
•  Serbia – Requested observer status in 2008.^[90]
•  South Africa – Requested observer status in 2002.^[90]
•  Sri Lanka – Requested observer status in 2008.^[90]

Notes

1. Also known as Guinea-Conakry.
2. It is not clear whether this figure includes areas such as Gaza, East Jerusalem, and other parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that are not controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
3. This 2010 figure does not include South Sudan, even though it only gained independence from Sudan in 2011. Pew Research Center gives 6.2% for South Sudan's Muslim population in 2010.^[28]
4. Also known as Burkina; formerly referred to as Upper Volta, its official name until 1984.
5. This figure is published in 2013, unlike the Pew Research Center figures which are from 2010. Pew does not appear to have separate figures for Northern Cyprus, which is not a widely recognised state, but gives 25.3% as the Muslim percentage of the whole of Cyprus in 2010.^[72]

References

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