ICA represents one billion co-operators, new statistics show

The International Co-operative Alliance represents close to one billion co-operators, according to new data. On this basis, the global representative body for co-operatives is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in the world today by the number of people it represents, according to available figures.

These statistics are calculated on the membership statistics from ICA's 267 members proper from 96 countries.

The country with the largest number of individual members indirectly represented by the ICA is the United States with 305.6 million members. There are nearly 30,000 co-operatives in the US.

The next countries are in Asia, with China following next behind the US with 160.8 million individual members. And then India with 97.6 million individual members.

Together these three countries account for nearly half of the members that the ICA represents indirectly.

The fourth largest number of members is in Japan with 75.8 million individual members - one in three Japanese households hold membership of a co-operative - and then Indonesia with 40.6 million individual members.

All in all, four of the top five countries - by membership that the ICA represents - are in Asia.

France is the first European country with 32.4 million individual co-operative members, represented through their organisations by the ICA.

Iran has 25.5 million individual co-operative members which are represented by the ICA.

Canada, where one in four people are members of a co-operative, then follows with 18.1 million.

The United Kingdom has 11.5 million individual members and Bangladesh follows not far behind with 11 million individual members.