The WOSM membership is continuously growing.
In the Triennium 2021-2024, WOSM’s membership has grown by 7%, based on the NSO Census entries as of July 2024. This means that WOSM’s membership has recovered and additionally increased from the membership decline seen in the years 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking at the whole Vision 2023 period, the WOSM membership increased by 22.6% with the membership increase being shared across four out of five WOSM regions.
Figure 1: WOSM Membership Overview (Official Census)
TOP 10 insights for WOSM Membership:
WOSM has witnessed continuous and increasing membership growth between 2014 and 2022 (Vision 2023) with a 22.6% increase in membership.
In the Triennium 2021-2024 WOSM’s membership has grown by 7%. This means that WOSM’s membership has recovered and additionally increased during this Triennium.
The number of girls in WOSM is the highest to date, amounting to almost 17 million according to the 2022 Official census.
The youth membership increased by 6% during Triennium 2021-2024 and 41% during Vision 2023.
Based on the identified membership reporting gaps and estimations by the 2024 WOSM Estimated Census, it is estimated that the current WOSM’s membership is set at 57,040,310 members.
WOSM’s market share is currently 3.29%, a 1.22% increase since the start of Vision 2023.
Most members joined in the Asia-Pacific Region (+5 341 186 members), the Africa Region (+2 579 617 members), the Arab Scout region (+227 159 members), and the European region (+214 887 members).
Highest relative increase in membership is recorded in the Africa Region (+104%), the Arab Region (+81%), the Asia-Pacific Region (+17.7%) and the European Region (+12.4%). The Interamerican Region decreased in membership by 37.4%
All regions recorded growth in Triennium 2021-2024. The Interamerica region had the highest relative growth in membership at 17.9%. The African region grew by 8.3%, followed by the Arab region (5.9%), the Asia-Pacific region (4.2%), and the European region (1.8%).
Four WOSM regions increased their market share in the period 2014-2022: Africa at +1.11%, Asia-Pacific at +0.59%, Arab at +0.18% and Europe at 0.16%. The market share of the Interamerica region decreased by 0.34%.
Through the interactive map below you can explore the membership situation of all NSOs, including growth during Vision 2023 and the Triennial Plan 2021-2024, and the NSO market share. With the report, WOSM aims to provide an accurate picture of its membership situation as reported in the 2022 census data, as well as identifying and exploring key trends for the period 2014 to 2022, as the year 2022 marks the last completed Annual reporting cycle.
The following data is available for each NSO:
“Vision 2023 Growth” (membership growth/decline in the period 2014-2022)
“TP 21-24 Growth” (membership growth/decline in the Triennium 2021-2024)
“Market share” - Current Market share (the ratio of Scouts and the youth population in the country)
Membership records at the beginning and the end of each Triennium since the start of Vision 2023 based on official membership data.
The Membership Report provides comparable and historical data on our rates of membership growth, highlighting our strengths and weaknesses, and outlining our progress towards achieving the Vision 2023.