List of country groupings

Groups of countries or regions are often referred to by a single term (word, phrase, or abbreviation). The origins of such terms include political alliances, intergovernmental organizations, business market areas, and mere colloquialism.

A

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B

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C

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D

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  • Development Assistance Committee (DAC), to discuss issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries, the world's major donor countries, Australia, European Union, Iceland, New Zealand, South Korea, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Denmark, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovenia, and United States.
  • DACH:[10] Majority German-speaking states of Central Europe (excludes the Principality of Liechtenstein). Utilises the German name of Germany and the Latin names of Austria and Switzerland. Germany (Deutschland), Austria (Austria) and Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica), with Dach meaning "roof" in German. The term is sometimes extended to D-A-CH-Li, DACHL, or DACH+ to include Liechtenstein. Another version is DACHS (with Dachs meaning "badger" in German) with the inclusion of the German-speaking region of South Tyrol in Italy.[11]

E

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  • East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of six countries in the African Great Lakes region in eastern Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and the DRC.
  • ECCAS: The Economic Community of Central African States.
  • ECGLC: The Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries, consisting of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda
  • ECOWAS: The Economic Community of West African States, a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa.
  • Eastern Partnership, a group of former soviet republics forging closer economic and political ties with the European Union. Members include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
  • Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, a political and economic organization, a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities, the objective is to establish a single market for goods and services.
  • EEA: The European Economic Area, which contains the European Union countries, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein
  • EAEU: Eurasian Economic Union, an economic union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and observer members Moldova, Uzbekistan and Cuba.
  • EU, The European Union, a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
  • EU+EEA+CH: The European Union + the European Economic Area + Switzerland, sign visible very often shown on the Schengen Area airports
  • Euronest Parliamentary Assembly: Interparliamentary forum between the EU and Eastern Partnership member states.
  • EFTA: European Free Trade Association
  • EMEA: Europe, the Middle East and Africa
  • EMEAI: Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India
  • ENWA: Europe and Northwest Asia
  • EPC: Political forum of 47 European countries.

F

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G

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  • G4 nations: Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, four countries which support each other's bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
  • Global Governance Group (G3), a group of 30 small to medium member countries which collectively provides representation and input to the G20.
  • Group of Two (G2): hypothetical and informal grouping between the United States and China, representing the countries with the two largest economies in the world
  • EU's G6 - France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom - countries with largest populations and thus the majority of votes in the Council of the European Union
  • Group of Seven (G7): Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund.
  • G8: US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia, and Japan, the eight major advanced economies as reported by the IMF, which became the G7 after expelling Russia following the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
  • G8+5, the G8 nations, plus the five leading emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa).
  • G20, or Group of Twenty, twenty major economies comprising Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, for studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
  • Group of 77 (G77), a loose coalition of developing nations designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations.
  • GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development: Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova
  • GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. A regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
  • Greater China: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
  • GAS: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (uncommon, DACH is more widely used)

I

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L

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  • La Francophonie: an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language
  • LAC: Latin America and the Caribbean
  • LAMEA: Latin America, the Middle East and Africa
  • LATAM: Latin America
  • LATCAR: Latin America and Caribbean[12]
  • Levant: Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
  • Lublin Triangle: Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine (Union of Lublin created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth)
  • Lusofonia: an international organization representing countries and regions where Portuguese is a lingua franca or customary language

M

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N

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O

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  • OIC, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states, with a collective population of over 1.8 billion as of 2015 with 54 countries being Muslim-majority countries.
  • OAS, the Organization of American States, is a continental organization of the 35 independent nations within North, Central and South America
  • OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, to stimulate economic progress and world trade, countries committed to democracy and the market economy, most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) and are regarded as developed countries.
  • OECS, a group of island nations located in the Eastern Caribbean.
  • OIAS, the Organization of Ibero-American States, an organization of Portuguese and Spanish Speaking Nations of the Americas, Africa, and Europe.
  • Organization of Turkic States: an international organization comprising some of the Turkic countries (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan).
  • OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, an organization of thirteen countries accounting for an estimated 42 percent of global oil production and 73 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. (OPEC+: the OPEC countries plus Russia)
  • Open Balkan : The Open Balkan is an economic and political zone of three member states in the Balkans, those being Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia.

P

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  • P5, permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  • Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc of states that border the Pacific Ocean. Permanent members include Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
  • The Pacific Pumas, a political and economic grouping of countries along Latin America's Pacific coast that includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The term references the four larger Pacific Latin American emerging markets that share common trends of positive growth, stable macroeconomic foundations, improved governance and an openness to global integration.
  • PALOP, the Portuguese-speaking African countries, also known as Lusophone Africa that includes: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea.
  • Paris Club, a group of major creditor countries whose officials meet ten times a year in the city of Paris, with the intent to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries.
  • PIGS, also PIIGS, the economies of the countries of Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy and/or Ireland.
  • PROSUR, the Forum for the Progress and Integration of South America.

Q

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R

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S

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  • SAARC, a geopolitical union of nations in South Asia
  • SADC: the Southern African Development Community
  • SCA: South and Central America
  • Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden (in some definitions, Finland is included due to strong historical ties to Sweden, and Iceland is sometimes included due to strong historical ties to Denmark and Norway).
  • Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic, and security organisation comprising: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
  • SaarLorLux: Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg
  • SEA: South-East Asia
  • Southern Cone (Cono Sur): Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Southern Brazil and Paraguay are occasionally included.
  • South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
  • South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone (ZPCAS or ZOPACAS): group of nations along the Atlantic coasts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South America, formed with a special focus on opposing nuclear proliferation in the region
  • SSA: Sub-Saharan Africa

T

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U

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V

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  • V4, Visegrád Group, an alliance of four Central European States: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

W

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  • Warsaw Pact (former): Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania
  • Weimar Triangle: France, Germany, Poland
  • WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Used to describe country bias in psychology research.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Forster, Nicola; Mallin, Felix. "The Association of European Microstates with the EU" (PDF). Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Australia & New Zealand (ANZ)". GE. GE.com. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  3. ^ "APJ REGION". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Overview of ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation" (PDF). ASEAN Secretariat. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  5. ^ Urata, Shujiro (February 2008). "An ASEAN+5 Economic Partnership: Significance and Tasks" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  6. ^ Kawai, Masahiro; Wignaraja, Ganeshan. "ASEAN+3 or ASEAN+6: Which Way Forward?" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Conclusion for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 'finally in sight': PM Lee". Channel NewsAsia.
  8. ^ "ASEAN+5 as a step towards an Asian Economic Community". East Asia Forum. 15 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)". RGA. Reinsurance Group of America. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  10. ^ "D-A-C-H". www.financialprojects.de.
  11. ^ Example: DACHS-Projekt "Ergotherapie 2010 Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Perez-Escamilla, R (1994). "Breastfeeding in Africa and the Latin American and Caribbean region: the potential role of urbanization". J Trop Pediatr. 40 (3): 137–43. doi:10.1093/tropej/40.3.137. PMID 8078111.
  13. ^ Lioulias, Efthymios. "Director Legal - Europe and MEATI (Middle East, Africa, Turkey & India)". LinkedIn. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  14. ^ "RCM Co-op -". Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  15. ^ "About MENACA (Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia)". Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  16. ^ "Middle East and Pakistan (MEP) External Relations Leader". www.smartrecruiters.com/. Retrieved 25 March 2017.