Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Category	Sovereign state
Location	Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Created	1969
Number	57 members (51 Muslim and 6 non-Muslim) 5 observer states (3 non-Muslim and 2 Muslim) Several non-Muslim member/observer candidates [note 1] (as of 2025)
Possible types	Republics (47) Monarchies (10)
Populations	2.04 billion

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation founded in 1969 has 57 members, 56 of which are also member states of the United Nations, with 51 countries having a Muslim majority. Some member countries, especially in West Africa and South America, such as Guyana, Gabon, Mozambique, 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.

The collective population of OIC member states is over 2.04 billion as of 2025.

Member states

Continent
Africa	Asia	Europe	South America	Transcontinental

Member state	Joined	Population	Muslim percentage	Area (km2)	Official Languages	Notes
Afghanistan Capital: Kabul	1969	41,144,133 [2]	99.8%	652,230	Dari Pashto	Suspended 1980 – March 1989 during the Soviet–Afghan War.
Algeria Capital: Algiers	1969	45,847,599 [2]	99.1%	2,381,741	Arabic Tamazight
Chad Capital: N'Djamena	1969	17,616,172 [2]	58%	1,284,000	Arabic French
Egypt Capital: Cairo	1969	107,206,514 [2]	95%	1,002,450	Arabic	Originally as United Arab Republic. Suspended May 1979 – March 1984 after signing a peace treaty with Israel. [3]
Guinea [note 2] Capital: Conakry	1969	14,033,298 [2]	90%	245,857	French
Indonesia Capital: Jakarta	1969	280,813,676 [2]	87%	1,904,569	Indonesian
Iran Capital: Tehran	1969	86,708,850 [2]	99.4%	1,648,195	Persian	Originally joined as Pahlavi Iran.
Jordan Capital: Amman	1969	10,458,701 [2]	97.1%	89,342	Arabic
Kuwait Capital: Kuwait City	1969	4,429,966 [2]	75%	17,818	Arabic
Lebanon Capital: Beirut	1969	6,748,419 [2]	54%	10,452	Arabic
Libya Capital: Tripoli	1969	7,107,348 [2]	99%	1,759,540	Arabic
Malaysia Capital: Kuala Lumpur	1969	33,412,468 [2]	66%	330,803	Malay
Mali Capital: Bamako	1969	21,723,855 [2]	95%	1,240,192	Bambara French
Mauritania Capital: Nouakchott	1969	4,957,932 [2]	100%	1,030,700	Arabic
Morocco Capital: Rabat	1969	38,013,335 [2]	99%	446,550	Arabic Tamazight
Niger Capital: Niamey	1969	17,138,707 [2]	99.3%	1,267,000	French
Pakistan Capital: Islamabad	1969	207,774,520 [2]	98%	881,912	Urdu English
Palestine [4] Capital: Jerusalem [note 3]	1969 [5]	4,420,549 [2]	99%	6,220	Arabic
Saudi Arabia Capital: Riyadh	1969	29,994,272 [2]	95%	2,149,690	Arabic
Senegal Capital: Dakar	1969	12,873,601 [2]	96.6%	196,722	French
Somalia Capital: Mogadishu	1969	10,806,000 [2]	99.9%	637,657	Arabic Somali
Sudan Capital: Khartoum	1969	37,289,406 [2]	97%	1,886,068	Arabic English
Tunisia Capital: Tunis	1969	10,886,500 [2]	99.1%	163,610	Arabic
Türkiye Capital: Ankara	1969	76,667,864 [2]	99.8%	783,562	Turkish
Yemen Capital: Sana'a	1969	25,235,000 [2]	99.1 [6]	527,968	Arabic	Joined separately as North Yemen and South Yemen. Both unified in 1990.
Bahrain Capital: Manama	1970	1,234,571 [2]	75%	765	Arabic
Oman Capital: Muscat	1970	4,020,000 [2]	95%	309,500	Arabic
Qatar Capital: Doha	1970	2,174,035 [2]	66%	11,586	Arabic
Syria Capital: Damascus	1970	21,987,000 [2]	97%	185,180	Arabic	Originally joined as Ba'athist Syria. Suspended August 2012 – March 2025 during the Syrian civil war. [7] [8]
United Arab Emirates Capital: Abu Dhabi	1971	9,446,000 [2]	75%	83,600	Arabic
Sierra Leone Capital: Freetown	1972	6,190,280 [2]	80%	71,740	English
Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka	1974	165,158,616 [9]	92%	147,570	Bengali
Gabon Capital: Libreville	1974	1,711,000 [2]	12%	267,668	French
The Gambia Capital: Banjul	1974	1,882,450 [2]	96.4%	11,295	English
Guinea-Bissau Capital: Bissau	1974	1,746,000 [2]	46%	36,125	Portuguese
Uganda Capital: Kampala	1974	47,729,952 [2]	15%	241,550	English Swahili
Burkina Faso [note 4] Capital: Ouagadougou	1975	22,489,126 [2]	65%	274,200	French
Cameroon Capital: Yaoundé	1975	30,135,732 [2]	32%	475,442	French English
Comoros Capital: Moroni	1976	850,886 [2]	99%	2,235	Comorian French Arabic
Iraq Capital: Baghdad	1976	43,500,000 [2]	99%	438,317	Arabic Kurdish	Originally joined as Ba'athist Iraq.
Maldives Capital: Malé	1976	317,280 [2]	100%	300	Dhivehi
Djibouti Capital: Djibouti	1978	886,000 [2]	95%	23,200	Arabic French
Benin Capital: Porto-Novo	1982	9,988,068 [2]	29%	112,622	French
Brunei Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan	1984	393,162 [2]	84%	5,765	Malay
Nigeria Capital: Abuja	1986	206,630,269 [2]	54%	923,768	English
Azerbaijan Capital: Baku	1991	9,477,100 [2]	90%	86,600	Azerbaijani
Albania Capital: Tirana	1992	2,821,977 [2]	52%	28,748	Albanian
Kyrgyzstan Capital: Bishkek	1992	5,976,570 [2]	90%	199,951	Kyrgyz Russian
Tajikistan Capital: Dushanbe	1992	8,860,000 [2]	98%	143,100	Tajiki
Turkmenistan Capital: Ashgabat	1992	5,607,000 [2]	96%	488,100	Turkmen
Mozambique Capital: Maputo	1994	23,700,715 [2]	20%	801,590	Portuguese
Kazakhstan Capital: Astana	1995	17,244,000 [2]	74%	2,724,900	Kazakh Russian
Uzbekistan Capital: Tashkent	1995	33,492,800 [2]	97%	447,400	Uzbek
Suriname Capital: Paramaribo	1996	534,189 [2]	15%	163,820	Dutch
Togo Capital: Lomé	1997	6,993,000 [2]	19%	56,785	French
Guyana Capital: Georgetown	1998	784,894 [2]	8%	214,969	English
Côte d'Ivoire Capital: Yamoussoukro	2001	23,202,000 [2]	42.5 [10]	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]	53%	51,209	Bosnian Serbian Croatian	Given an invitation in 2013 by the OIC to join as a full member. [11]
Central African Republic Capital: Bangui	1997	4,709,000 [2]	15%	622,984	French
Northern Cyprus Capital: North Nicosia	1979 [12]	382,836 [13]	99%	3,355	Turkish	See further details [note 5]
Thailand Capital: Bangkok	1998	64,456,700 [2]	7%	513,120	Thai
Russia Capital: Moscow	2005	146,048,500 [2]	12%	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

In 2013, the OIC created a permanent observer mission to the EU. In 2016, the EU accredited a Head of Delegation to the OIC. ^[23]

Membership attempts

• Belarus — Requested observer status in 2010. ^{[note 6] [24] [25]}
• Brazil — Requested observer status in 2011. ^{[note 6] [26]}
• Cambodia — Requested observer status in 2022. ^{[note 6] [27]}
• Central African Republic — Requested full membership in 2002. ^{[24] [28]}
• China — Requested observer status in 2012. ^{[note 6] [29]}
• Democratic Republic of Congo — Requested observer status in 2008 ^[30] and full membership in 2011. ^[25]
• Ethiopia — Requested full membership in 2024. ^[31]
• 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. ^[32] However, it was opposed by Pakistan. India has never made a formal application to join OIC as an observer or as a member state. ^[33] While India's potential candidacy is supported by some OIC members, ^[34] 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. ^[35]
• Kenya — Requested full membership in 2011. ^{[note 6] [25]}
• Liberia — Requested full membership in November 2016. ^[36]
• Mauritius — Requested full membership in 2002. ^{[24] [28]}
• Montenegro — Requested observer status in 2013. ^{[note 6] [37]}
•    Nepal — Requested observer status in 2008. ^{[note 6] [30]}
• Philippines — Requested observer status in 2008. ^{[note 6] [30]} 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. ^{[38] [39] [40] [41]} In 2019, one of the leaders of the MNLF, Nir Misuari, was appointed as a special envoy to the organization. ^[42]
• Serbia — Requested observer status in 2008. ^{[note 6] [30]}
• South Africa — Requested observer status in 2002. ^{[note 6] [30]}
• Sri Lanka — Requested observer status in 2008. ^{[note 6] [30]}

Notes

1. Includes Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine, etc.
2. Also known as Guinea-Conakry.
3. Although the capital of Palestine is Jerusalem, the seat of government of the country is located in Ramallah as the entirety of the city of Jerusalem is entirely controlled by Israel, which considers the whole city to be its capital under the 1980 Jerusalem Law and the occupation of East Jerusalem is not entirely recognized by the international community including the OIC member states; although East Jerusalem is envisioned to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, pending developments of a final peace deal between the two parties. See also the status of Jerusalem.
4. Also known as Burkina; formerly referred to as Upper Volta, its official name until 1984.
5. Recognised only by Turkey. Under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", it is an observer state of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ^[12] and the Economic Cooperation Organization. Northern Cyprus is claimed in whole by the Republic of Cyprus. ^[14]
   • Designation changed in 2004 ^[15]
   • 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. ^{[16] [17] [18]}
   • OIC SG received the president and foreign minister of Northern Cyprus. ^{[19] [20]}
   • 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. ^{[21] [22]}
6. Non-Muslim majorities.

References

1. "Economies of the ummah".
2. "Population, total | Data". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
3. "Timeline: Organisation of the Islamic Conference". BBC. 26 December 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
4. The State of Palestine succeeded the seat of the Palestine Liberation Organization following the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence.
5. "Member States". new.oic-oci.org. OIC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
6. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project: Yemen. Pew Research Center. 2010.
7. "Organization of Islamic Cooperation suspends Syria's membership". Al Arabiya. 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
8. "Foreign Ministry welcomes OIC decision to resume Syria's membership following Assad regime fall". Syrian Arab News Agency. 2025-03-07. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
9. "জনসংখ্যা সাড়ে ১৬ কোটি, অধিকাংশ নারী, কমেছে হিন্দু জনগোষ্ঠীর হার". BBC News বাংলা .
10. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project: Ivory Coast. Pew Research Center. 2010.
11. Efendic, Kenan (2013-04-16). "OIC Invites Bosnia to Become Full Member". Balkan Insight . Retrieved 2016-10-14.
12. "Common Page: Observer states". new.oic-oci.org. OIC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
13. Muhammet İkbal Arslan (10 October 2022). "KKTC'nin nüfusu 382 bin 836 olarak hesaplandı" (in Turkish). Anadolu Agency.
14. See The World Factbook|Cyprus (10 January 2006). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 17 January 2006.
15. The Turkish Cypriot community of Cyprus became an OIC "observer community" in 1979 under the name "Turkish Muslim community of Cyprus". The 31st OIC Meeting of Foreign Ministers which met in Istanbul in June 2004, decided that the Turkish Cypriot Community (represented by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) will participate in the OIC meetings under the name envisaged in the Annan Plan for Cyprus (i.e. "Turkish Cypriot constituent state of the United Cyprus Republic" or Turkish Cypriot State in short). OIC Official Website Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
16. ^[ usurped ] The World Bulletin news: Egypt's Sisi demands Turkish Cypriots removed from OIC
17. Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine Egypt's Sisi tells Turks to get out of Cyprus
18. Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine OIC says «NO» to «Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus»
19. OIC ^{[ permanent dead link ]} OIC Secretary General receives Foreign Minister Turkish Cypriot State
20. OIC ^{[ permanent dead link ]} Madani meets...the President of TRNC...
21. TRNC Public Information Office TRNC represented with its official name for the first time at OIC conference.
22. Kibris Postasi, 9 Feb 2017 Archived 22 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Minister Saner: "Our country was designated as "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" in a OIC conference for the first time.
23. "Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the EU | EEAS".
24. "Le Secrétariat général demande d'accélérer l'adoption du Règlement portant conditions d'obtention du statut d'observateur auprès de l'OCI" (in French). Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 2011-01-17. Archived from the original on 2013-08-02. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
25. "Serbia requests OIC observer status". B92. 2011-07-01. Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
26. "Brazil Requests To Join OIC As Observer State". IPOTNEWS. 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
27. Socheath, Sar (14 March 2022). "Kingdom seeks observer status in Organization of Islamic Cooperation". Khmer Times. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
28. Chickrie, Ray (2011-06-13). "Brazil to join Guyana and Suriname in Islamic bloc". Caribbean News Now!. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
29. "China seeks to be OIC observer member". New Straits Times. 2012-06-28. Archived from the original on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
30. "OIC Secretary General Calls for Early Adoption of Rules for Access to Observer Status". Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2013-08-02.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
31. "Ethiopia hints joining Organization of Islamic Cooperation". apanews.net. African Press Agency. 26 November 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
32. Mustafa El-Feki: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/730/in1.htm An Indo-Arab blunder? Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine Al-Ahram, 17–23 February 2005.
33. Iran to view favourably India's entry into OIC : ^[ dead link ]The Hindu21 July 2000.
34. Observer status for India at OIC: King Abdullah Expressindia.com, 22 January 2006.
35. Pak disapproves Saudi king's comments on India's OIC entry Rediff News, 23 January 2006.
36. "Liberia Seeks Membership To Islamic Body". Global News Network. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
37. "Montenegro became an observer in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation". Vijesti Online. 13 December 2013.
38. "RP nears observer status in OIC – DFA – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos". Globalnation.inquirer.net. 2009-05-26. Archived from the original on 2015-04-04. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
39. "EZ2 Lotto Luzon | Manila Bulletin". Mb.com.ph. 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
40. "RP closer to becoming observer-state in Organization of Islamic Conference | Home >> The Filipino Global Community >> Philippines". The Philippine Star. 2009-05-29. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
41. "DFA: 'Technicalities' blocking RP bid for OIC observer status – Nation – GMA News Online – Latest Philippine News". Gmanews.tv. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
42. ABS-CBN News (14 December 2019). "Duterte appoints Misuari as special envoy to international Islamic agency". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 2019-12-14.