Scouting Movement

Here are some facts, that you might or might not have known.

No. of participants
Founding of Scouting
A Scouting World
Those not in Scouting
Those in Scouting
The TABLE
Scouting Territories
Milestones in Scouting
**Credits for this page**
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The Scouting Movement

The Wood Badge

No. of PARTICIPANTS
There are well over 25,000,000 individuals involved in scouting World Wide!
That makes it the biggest uniformed organisation.
The most popular "Youth Club".
The one of the, if not the most, popular activities in the world.
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FOUNDING OF SCOUTS

Scouting was founded on 1 August 1907, the opening of Robert Baden-Powell's experimental camp on Brownsea Island in England .
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SCOUTING WORLD

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There are only 6 countries where there is no scouting -:
(why? We don't know, nor will speculate)

1. Andora
2. China
3. Cuba
4. Democratic People's Republic of Korea
5. Lao People's Democratic Republic
6. Myanmar

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Those IN Scouting
As of June 1998 there are 150 countries with internationally recognized National Scout Organizations.

The countries are listed below with the following information:

Membership:

The membership which is shown in these 149 countries represents only the members
(youth and adults) of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), which in most countries includes boys and girls.

Please note-:
In some countries - mostly in Europe - the national organization is larger than indicated here because it includes girls who are members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

Joined WOSM:

The date is the most recent year that the National Scout Organization joined the World Organization of the Scout Movement, which was founded in 1922. (Organizations in some countries were World Scouting members in earlier years, but Scouting was disbanded for a period of time.)

Scouting founded:

This information is taken from published sources. Note that countries use different standards to define "founded". It may mean the year the first Scout group was formed, or when the national organzation was formed, or chartered, etc.
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Country	Membership	Joined WOSM	Scouting Founded
Algeria	10,000	1963	1939
Angola	6,000	1998
Argentina	35,633	1922	1912
Armenia	2,035	1997	1912
Australia	124,424	1953	1908
Austria	16,455	1922	1912
Bahamas	1,644	1974	1913
Bahrain	1,820	1970	1953
Bangladesh	784,054	1974	1972
Barbados	3,041	1969	1912
Belarus	7,050	1998	1909
Belgium	92,691	1922	1911
Belize	1,643	1987	1911
Benin	11,587	1964	1932
Bolivia	6,859	1950	1915
Botswana	4,660	1958	1936
Brazil	58,493	1922	1910
Brunei Darussalam	2,617	1981	1933
Burkina Faso	10,165	1972	1943
Burundi	6,661	1979	1940
Cameroon	6,535	1971	1937
Canada	272,070	1946	1909
Central African Republic	7,000	1969	1941
Chad	2,850	1974	1960
Chile	35,180	1922	1909
China, Scouts of	72,927	1937	1912
Colombia	20,973	1933	1917
Comoros	2,200	1990	1975
Congo, The Democratic Republic of The	62,842	1963	1924
Costa Rica	5,688	1925	1915
Côte-d,Ivoire	6,436	1972	1937
Croatia	3,865	1993	1915
Cyprus	5,013	1961	1913
Czech Republic	35,610	1996	1920
Denmark	53,258	1922	1910
Dominica	1,100	1990	1929
Dominican Republic	3,200	1930	1926
Ecuador	5,536	1922	1920
Eygpt	74,598	1922	1918
El Salvador	4,180	1940	1938
Estonia	1,016	1996	1912
Ethiopia	dormant	1969	1950
Fiji	9,205	1971	1914
Finland	38,132	1922	1910
France	117,531	1922	1910
Gabon	3,835	1971	1936
Gambia	11,056	1984	1921
Germany	133,942	1950	1910
Ghana	3,186	1960	1912
Greece	17,378	1922	1910
Grenada	1,052	1979	1924
Guatemala	7,247	1930	1928
Guinea	3,470	1990	1984
Guyana	294	1967	1909
Haiti	9,859	1932	1932
Honduras	4,319	1957	1952
Hong Kong	53,049	1977	1911
Hungary	19,809	1990	1919
Iceland	1,692	1924	1912
India	1,591,083	1938	1909
Indonesia	9,896,357	1953	1953
Iran, Islamic Republic of	dormant	1955	1928
Iraq	12,000	1922	1921
Ireland	51,903	1949	1908
Israel	21,920	1951	1920
Italy	115,449	1922	1912
Jamaica	4,133	1963	1963
Japan	244,827	1922	1913
Jordan	14,238	1955	1954
Kenya	168,021	1964	1910
Kiribati	1,798	1993
Korea, Republic of	263,796	1953	1922
Kuwait	6,061	1955	1952
Latvia	801	1993	1917
Lebanon	8,450	1947	1912
Lesotho	371	1971	1936
Liberia	2,418	1922	1934
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	12,902	1958	1954
Liechtenstein	496	1933	1931
Lithuania	1,500	1997	1918
Luxembourg	5,853	1922	1914
Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of	3,500	1997	1921
Madagascar	8,857	1960	1921
Malaysia	93,449	1957	1911
Maldives	4,543	1990	1963
Malta	2,772	1966	1908
Mauritania	1,779	1983	1946
Mauritius	2,998	1971	1912
Mexico	59,531	1926	1920
Moldova, Republic of	1,540	1997	1991
Monaco	62	1990
Mongolia	5,311	1994	1992
Morocco	12,304	1961	1933
Namibia	1,378	1960	1990
Nepal	24,889	1969	1952
Netherlands	61,196	1922	1910
New Zealand	33,673	1953	1908
Nicaragua	2,298	1948	1937
Niger	1,230	1996	1947
Nigeria	46,701	1961	1915
Norway	18,956	1922	1911
Oman	9,495	1977	1948
Pakistan	441,677	1948	1947
Palestinian Authority	18,500	1996	1912
Panama	7,111	1950	1924
Papua New Guinea	2,599	1976	1926
Paraguay	1,240	1962	1960
Peru	12,276	1922	1916
Philippines	2,888,265	1946	1923
Poland	187,022	1996	1919
Portugal	52,208	1922	1913
Qatar	5,096	1965	1956
Romania	4,930	1993	1914
Rwanda	5,479	1975	1940
San Marino	193	1990	1973
Saudi Arabia	54,994	1963	1961
Senegal	5,882	1963	1930
Sierra Leone	7,963	1964	1909
Singapore	10,392	1966	1910
Slovakia	4,510	1997	1913
Slovenia	7,301	1994	1915
South Africa	21,323	1937	1908
Spain	89,256	1922	1912
Sri Lanka	25,288	1953	1912
Saint Lucia	516	1990	1935
Saint Vincent and The Grenadines	676	1990	1924
Sudan	13,550	1956	1935
Suriname	2,601	1968	1924
Swaziland	4,994	1968	1968
Sweden	71,033	1922	1911
Switzerland	31,553	1922	1922
Syrian Arab Republic	11,073	1924	1912
Tajikistan	1,100	1997	1991
Tanzania, United Republic of	40,809	1963	1963
Thailand	1,050,365	1922	1911
Togo	15,759	1977	1920
Trinidad & Tobago	6,210	1963	1911
Tunisia	40,920	1957	1934
Turkey	11,252	1950	1923
Uganda	65,152	1964	1915
United Arab Emirates	5,824	1977	1972
United Kingdom	630,954	1922	1907
United States of America	5,632,897	1922	1909
Uruguay	2,841	1950	1946
Venezuela	12,371	1937	1913
Yemen	6,481	1980	1954
Yugoslavia	12,080	1995	1915
Zambia	3,031	1965	1965
Zimbabwe	4,817	1980	1909

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**Credits**
For what was not already common knowledge-:

Our thanks to KnightRaid an Irish scout who gathered quite a bit of info. for his World Friendship Badge, and thankfully passed it on to us. He accredited a lot of what he found to the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) web site, which has even more data.