G20 member countries
The 19 countries in the Group of Twenty, the club of the world’s biggest economies, which also seats the European Union and, since 2023, the African Union.
19 countriesAs of September 2026Short notes, not sourcedSuggest a correction
The G20 began in 1999, after the Asian financial crisis, as a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors. In 2008, as the global financial crisis struck, its leaders met for the first time in Washington, and it has held a summit every year since. The presidency rotates, and each year’s host sets the agenda.
Between them its members produce about 85 percent of the world’s economic output and hold around two-thirds of its people. It has no permanent secretariat and its decisions don’t bind anyone. The European Union has always had a seat, and the African Union became the 21st member in 2023, but the name stayed.
The G77
The older group of large advanced economies, all in the G20 too.
United StatesHosted the first leaders’ summit, in Washington in November 2008.
United KingdomHosted the 2009 summit in London, which agreed a large package to fight the recession.
CanadaIts finance minister, Paul Martin, was one of the G20’s founders and its first chair, in 1999.
The rest12
Twelve large economies from every other part of the world.
ChinaThe world’s second-largest economy.
IndiaHosted the 2023 summit in New Delhi, where the African Union joined.
RussiaStill a member, although it was suspended from the G8 after it annexed Crimea in 2014, and the G8 went back to being the G7.
IndonesiaThe only Southeast Asian member.
Saudi ArabiaThe only member from the Gulf, and the first Arab country to host, in 2020, when the summit was held online.
ArgentinaThe only Spanish-speaking member in South America.
South AfricaThe only African country with its own seat, and the first to host, in Johannesburg in 2025.
Close calls
The European Union and the African Union
The two unions are full members, but they aren’t countries, so this list, like the Grid’s clue, counts only the 19 countries.
Spain
Spain isn’t a member, but it has been invited to every summit as a permanent guest.
Bigger than some members
The group was fixed in 1999 and has never been reshuffled, so some economies outside it, such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Poland, are now bigger than members like South Africa or Argentina.
More country lists
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- Andean countries
- Arab League member states
- Arctic Ocean countries
- ASEAN member countries
- Atlantic Ocean countries
- Baltic Sea countries
- Black Sea countries
- BRICS member countries
- Caribbean Sea countries
- Commonwealth member countries
- Countries in the Arctic Circle
- Countries in the European Union
- Countries of the former Yugoslavia
- Countries on the Equator
- Countries that drive on the left
- Countries that use the euro
- Countries with a monarch
- Countries with nuclear weapons
- Danube countries
- FIFA World Cup host countries
- Former Soviet republics
- Indian Ocean countries
- Island nations
- Landlocked countries
- Mediterranean countries
- Mekong countries
- NATO member countries
- OECD member countries
- OPEC member countries
- Pacific Ocean countries
- Persian Gulf countries
- Red Sea countries
- Sahara Desert countries
- Schengen Area countries
- Summer Olympics host countries
- Winter Olympics host countries