What is an OECD Country?
An OECD country refers to a member country of the OECD or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Member countries all have democratic forms of government and all have highly developed or emerging economies. Some member countries include the US, the UK, Canada, France, Australia, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Mexico among others. The goal of OECD is basically to promote development among member nations.

OECD was formed back in 1960 with 18 countries in Europe as the initial members along with the US and Canada with the goal of promoting social and economic development across all countries around the globe. Today, there are already 34 member countries from all across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. But aside from cooperating with member countries, the OECD also coordinates with other countries, especially those with developing economies like China, Brazil, India, and some countries in the African and Caribbean regions.

Basically the OECD is involved in analyzing issues and concerns that may help other countries achieve prosperity and eliminate poverty. Financial soundness and economic development are the main goals of every discussion and all available information from member countries are evaluated for possible implementation. And if policies are decided and implemented, several peer reviews are conducted to ensure proper monitoring and to determine effectiveness of the said policy. The basic framework for the OECD structure involves the Council, the Committees, and the Secretariat. The Council is made up representatives from each member country and one from the European Commission, and it is in-charge with the overall direction of the organization and they are responsible in making decisions. The Committees are involved with the discussions and implementation of policies while The Secretariat is involved in making analysis and proposals.

The OECD is able to function from the contributions of member countries. Contributions are said to be based on the member country’s economy size. At present, the US and Japan are the top two biggest contributors to the OECD fund.