OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Logo
Founder States (1961)   Other Member States
Secretariat	Paris, France
Official languages	English French
Membership	38 states  Australia  Austria  Belgium  Canada  Chile  Colombia  Costa Rica  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Israel  Italy  Japan  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Mexico  Netherlands  New Zealand  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Slovakia  Slovenia  South Korea  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States
Leaders
• Secretary-General	Mathias Cormann
Establishment
• as the OEECa	16 April 1948
• reformed as the OECD	30 September 1961
Website www.OECD.org
Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation of countries. Member countries of OECD all have a democratic system of government. They also accept the principle of a free economy. A country has a free economy when its government does not control the economic activities of its citizens and companies.

The OECD started 1948 as the Organisation 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 help each other re-build their industry and other things destroyed in the Second World War. Later on, some non-European countries also joined this organisation. In 1960, OEEC changed its name, and it became OECD: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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