Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been founded in 1948 to coordinate the Marshall Plan for European economic recovery following World War II. The organization now has 37 full members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. Member countries are pledged to work together to promote their economies, to extend aid to less developed nations, and to contribute to the expansion of world trade. Agencies operating under the OECD include the Development Centre, the International Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Energy Agency. The headquarters are in Paris.
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