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.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

A

• APAC: Asia-Pacific
• America: Usage varies; it may refer to just the United States of America, or just North America, or all of North and South America combined, or some other combination.
• ANZ: Australia and New Zealand[1]
• ANZIT: Australia-New Zealand-Italy Trilateral relations
• ANZUK: Trilateral relations between Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
• APJ: Asia Pacific and Japan[2]
• APSG: Asia Pacific and Singapore
• African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of all fifty-five countries on the African continent.
• Arraiolos Group is an informal meeting of presidents of parlamentary and semi-presidencial European Union member states.
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region
• Four Asian Tigers Also called "Four Asian Dragons" or "Four Little Dragons", are the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, which underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rate between the early 1960s (mid-1950s for Hong Kong) and 1990s. By the early 21st century, all four had developed into high-income economies (developed countries), specializing in areas of competitive advantage
• Arab League, a regional organization of Arab countries in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, to draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries
• ASEAN, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional organisation comprising ten Southeast Asian states
• ASEAN+3: The ASEAN countries, plus China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea[3]
• ASEAN+6, The ASEAN countries with Japan, India, China, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.[4][5][6][7]
• Assembly of European Regions
• Association of Caribbean States

B

• Baltics, three sovereign states in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• BASIC countries, four large newly industrialized countries, Brazil, South Africa, India, China, to act jointly on climate change and emissions reduction
• Benelux Union is a politico-economic union of three neighbouring states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• Big Four (Western Europe) refers to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. These countries are considered major European powers and they are the Western European countries individually represented as full members of the G7, the G8, the G-10 and the G20. This also has an impact on the Eurovision Song Contest, when these countries added to Spain, are turned the BIG 5.
• BIMSTEC, A group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia around the Bay of Bengal to promote technological and economic co-operation, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
• BRIC, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development
• BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
• BSEC, The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation is a regional organization focusing on multilateral political and economic initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation in the Black Sea region.

C

• CALA: Central America and Latin America, or the Caribbean and Latin America
• CAME: Central Asia and the Middle East
• CANZUK, the current personal union and proposed international organisation composed of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
• CARICOM, Caribbean Community, an organization of fifteen Caribbean nations and dependencies
• CEFTA, the Central European Free Trade Agreement, current members: Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia and UNMIK for the territory of Kosovo.
• CARIFTA, Caribbean Free Trade Association
• CIVETS, six emerging markets countries, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa, a diverse and dynamic economy and a young, growing population
• CLMV, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in south east Asia, members of ASEAN
• Comecon, formally the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, consisted of socialist economies within the Communist world: the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam. The organization existed from 1949 to 1991 during the Cold War.
• Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, a group of disputed states forging closer political ties. Members include Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and the Republic of Artsakh.
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), political alliance between the former Soviet Republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
• Commonwealth of Nations, fifty-three member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire.
• Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and observer members Serbia and Afghanistan.
• Council of Europe, political alliance of 47 European countries.
• CEE: Central and Eastern Europe[8]
• CUSA: Canada and the United States

D

• 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: Majority German-speaking states of Central Europe (excludes the Principality of Liechtenstein). Utilises the German name of Germany, English name of Austria, and the Latin name of Switzerland. Germany (Deutschland), Austria (Austria) and Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica)
• DOS: Germany, Austria and Switzerland (for the countries' respective names in German: Deutschland, Österreich, and Schweiz) (uncommon, DACH is more widely used)

E

• 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, and Uganda.
• 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 counties, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein
• EAEU: Eurasian Economic Union, an economic union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and observer member Moldova.
• 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
• 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

F

• Five Eyes (FVEY), is an anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• Four Asian Tigers, economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates, now developed into advanced and high-income economies.
• FLAME: France-Latin America relationship
• Francamérique: French Overseas region and collectivities in the Americas
• FRES: France and Spain (in Spanish as España)
• FRIT: France and Italy
• FRITES: France, Italy and Spain (in Spanish as España)

G

• 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), United States and China (informal) focusing on Sino-American relations. Per being considered two of the most influential and powerful countries in the world
• EU's G6 - France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom—with the largest populations and thus with 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+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, 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
• 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

• IBSA Dialogue Forum, India, Brazil, South Africa, an international tripartite grouping for promoting international cooperation among these countries.
• IMEA: India, Middle East and Africa
• Inner Six - founding member states of the European Communities.
• International Solar Alliance, The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 122 countries initiated by India, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, Inter-parliamentary institution of 21 national parliaments representing Orthodox Christians.

L

• La Francophonie: an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language
• LATAM: Latin America
• LATCAR: Latin America and Caribbean[9]
• Levant: Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria (broadly includes: Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Greece)

M

• Mercosur (Southern Common Market), Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency.
• MIKTA, an informal partnership between Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Australia, to support effective global governance.
• MINT, the economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey.
• MART: Middle East, Africa, Russia and Turkey
• MEA: Middle East and Africa
• MEATI: Middle East, Africa, Turkey & India[10]
• MEESA: Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa
• MENA: Middle East and North Africa
• MEP: Middle East and Pakistan[11]
• META: Middle East, Turkey and Africa

N

• NAC: North America and the Caribbean
• NATO: North Atlantic treaty organisation; NATO is formal group country to defend itself from the Soviet Union.
• NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement, is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America.
• Next Eleven (N11), Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea, and Vietnam – identified as having a high potential of becoming, along with the BRICS countries, among the world's largest economies in the 21st century.
• NACE: North Atlantic and Central Europe
• NALA: North America and Latin America
• NORAM or NA or NAMER: North American Region (Canada, United States, and Mexico)
• Nordics: in addition to the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden, also Finland and Iceland are included.
• NWA: Northwest Asia

O

• 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, Organization of American States, is a continental organization of the 35 independent nations within North and South America
• OECD, 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, Organization of Ibero-American States, an organization of Portuguese and Spanish Speaking Nations of the Americas, Africa, and Europe.
• OPEC, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, thirteen countries accounting for an estimated 42 percent of global oil production and 73 percent of the world's proven oil reserves.

P

• 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.
• 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.

R

• Rio Group, was an international organization of Latin American and some Caribbean states that was succeeded in 2010 by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
• ROME: Rest of Middle East

S

• SAARC, a geopolitical union of nations in South Asia
• SCA: South and Central America
• Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden (in some definitions, Finland is included due to strong historical ties to Sweden)
• 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, Paraguay, Uruguay and Southern Brazil.
• South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

T

• Tiger Cub Economies: a grouping of five newly industrialized emerging markets and middle powers in Southeast Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam
• Turkic Council: an international organization comprising some of the Turkic countries (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Hungary).

U

• United Kingdom (UK), a country in Western Europe consisting of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
• United Nations (UN), an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation, 193 member states.
• Union State of Eurasia (USE), a Sovereign state made up of Russia and Belarus.

V

• V4, Visegrád Group, an alliance of four Central European States: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
• VISTA (Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, and Argentina) is an emerging markets grouping proposed in 2006 by BRICs Economic Research Institute of Japan.

See also

• United Nations geoscheme
• List of multilateral free-trade agreements

References

1. "Australia & New Zealand (ANZ)". GE. GE.com. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
2. "APJ REGION". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
3. "Overview of ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation" (PDF). ASEAN Secretariat. ASEAN Secretariat. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
4. Urata, Shujiro (February 2008). "An ASEAN+6 Economic Partnership: Significance and Tasks" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2018.
5. Kawai, Masahiro; Wignaraja, Ganeshan. "ASEAN+3 or ASEAN+6: Which Way Forward?" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2018.
6. "Conclusion for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 'finally in sight': PM Lee". Channel NewsAsia.
7. "ASEAN+6 as a step towards an Asian Economic Community". East Asia Forum. 15 May 2009.
8. "Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)". RGA. Reinsurance Group of America. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
9. Perez-Escamilla, R. "Breastfeeding in Africa and the Latin American and Caribbean region: the potential role of urbanization". J Trop Pediatr. 40: 137–43. doi:10.1093/tropej/40.3.137. PMID 8078111.
10. Lioulias, Efthymios. "Director Legal - Europe and MEATI (Middle East, Africa, Turkey & India)". LinkedIn. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
11. "Middle East and Pakistan (MEP) External Relations Leader". www.smartrecruiters.com/. Retrieved 25 March 2017.