National Scout Organizations

Scouting is a global movement with over 40 million members worldwide, all part of National Scout Organizations (NSOs). The role of the NSO is to support and develop Scouting in that country, and facilitate contacts with other NSOs and the World Organization.

To become a member of WOSM, NSOs must gain recognition from the World Scout Conference. There can only be one NSO per country. In the case of a country having more than one National Scout Association (NSA), a federation is formed for the purpose of national coordination and world membership.

There are currently 162 National Scout Organizations in the world. The most recent member, South Sudan, joined on 1 May 2013. Of the 162 NSOs, 128 belong only to WOSM and 34 belong both to WOSM and to The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and are jointly referred to as SAGNOs (Scout And Guide National Organizations).

List of National Scout Organizations.

Membership figures

Below you can find the membership census as of 31 December 2012. In some countries the National Scout Organization is larger than indicated, as girls and women are members of WAGGGS.

Membership Census 31 December 2012.

Scouting Elsewhere
Potential Member Countries

Scouting Elsewhere

Sometimes Scouting exists as overseas branches of current member organisations and in some cases Scouting exists, but there is no National Scout Organization.

Main Territories

There are 26 main territories where Scouting exists, often as overseas branches of member NSOs:

Anguilla
Antarctica
Aruba
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Cook Islands
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Faroe Islands
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gibraltar
Greenland
Guadeloupe
Martinique
Montserrat
New Caledonia
Norfolk Island
Puerto Rico
Réunion
Saint Helena
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Turks and Caicos Islands
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, U.S.
Wallis and Futuna

Potential Member Countries

There are 27 countries where Scouting exists (be it embryonic or widespread) but where there is no National Scout Organization which is yet a member of WOSM.

Note: In the independent countries marked with a "*", there is a Scout Association which is a branch of a WOSM member.

Afghanistan
Antigua and Barbuda*
Central African Republic
Congo
Djibouti
East Timor
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Guinea-Bissau
Iran
Iraq
Kyrgyzstan
Mali
Marshall Islands*
Micronesia, Federated States of*
Nauru
Palau
Saint Kitts and Nevis*
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe Solomon Islands *
Somalia
Tonga*
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu*
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu*
Viet Nam

WOSM maintains official contacts with the Scouts of Macao, and French Polynesia, which are associate members of the Asia-Pacific Scout Region, and with the Scouts of Aruba and Curaçao which are associate members of the Interamerican Scout Region.

Countries with no Scouting

There are six countries where Scouting, to WOSM's knowledge, does not exist; in some it would not be allowed. These are: Andorra, People's Republic of China,  Cuba,  Democratic People's Republic of Korea,  Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar.