Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of thirty countries. Member countries of OECD accept a democratic system of governments. They also accept the principle of free economy. A country has a free economy, when its government does not control the economic activities of its citizens and companies. OECD had originated in 1948 as the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). The Second World War had just ended three years before in 1945. Some countries of Europe came together to form OEEC to make easy re-building of industry and other things destroyed in the Second World War. Later on, some non-European countries also joined this organization. In 1960, OEEC changed its name, and it became OECD: the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The OECD's headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris.

At present, OECD has thirty countries as its members. Twenty countries became members of OECD in 1960. These countries are:

1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Canada
4. Denmark
5. France
6. Germany
7. Greece
8. Iceland
9. Ireland
10. Italy
11. Luxembourg
12. Netherlands
13. Norway
14. Portugal
15. Spain
16. Sweden
17. Switzerland
18. Turkey
19. United Kingdom
20. United States

10 countries joined OECD after 1960. The names of these countries (with the year of joining within brackets), are:

1. Japan (1964)
2. Finland (1969)
3. Australia (1971)
4. New Zealand (1973)
5. Mexico (1994)
6. Czech Republic (1995)
7. Hungary (1996)
8. South Korea (1996)
9. Poland(1996)
10. Slovakia (2000)