For the past 56 years, the Union of International Associations (UIA) has undertaken, for the benefit of its members, statistical studies on the preceding year’s international meetings.

As of 2005, the report will be made available for sale to the public following a period of three months exclusive use by UIA Associate Members.

The statistics are based on information systematically collected by the UIA Congress Department and selected according to strict criteria maintained over the years (thus enabling meaningful comparison from year to year).

Meetings taken into consideration include those organized and/or sponsored by the international organizations which appear in the Yearbook of International Organizations and in the International Congress Calendar, i.e.: the sittings of their principal organs, congresses, conventions, symposia, regional sessions grouping several countries, as well as some national meetings with international participation organized by national branches of international associations.

This latter category includes meetings which are not collected systematically but which have been brought to our attention and which meet the following criteria :

• minimum number of participants : 300
• minimum number of foreign participants : 40 %
• minimum number of nationalities : 5
• minimum duration : 3 days

Excluded from the UIA figures are purely national meetings as well as those of an essential religious, didactic, political, commercial, sporting nature such as religious gatherings, courses, party conferences, fairs, sales meetings, contests etc.

Also excluded are meetings strictly limited in participation such as committees, groups of experts etc. most of these being held at an intergovernmental level and taking place mainly at the headquarters of the large IGO's in New York, Geneva, Rome, Brussels, Vienna...

Corporate and incentive meetings are not included; the survey of these specific markets being not within the scope of activities of the UIA.

General picture

• 2004 saw a small decline in meetings globally with 9,160 meetings held in 223 countries & territories and 1,557 cities (or towns or resorts).
• The number of meetings was 1,253 fewer (-12%) than the global peak in the year 2000. As further information is received, this reduction is expected to stabilize at approximately -8% or -9%.
• Based on the year 2004, there has been a worldwide fall in international meetings of -2.4% for the past five year period.
• While 2-year forward projections suggest a leveling out, the number of meetings already scheduled for 2005 is -22% lower than the same time last year; this suggests a downturn for 2005.

On an aggregated basis, the trend is primarily negative:

• Africa –11%
• Asia +14.9%
• Australasia – 2%
• Europe –11%
• North America –6%
• South America –16%

The worldwide breakdown (market share) by continent:

• Europe 56.8%
• North America 13.9%
• Asia 14.9%
• South America 6.4%
• Africa 4.8%
• Australasia / Pacific 3.2%

The top ten countries and cities are as follows, see tables below for more details:

Countries : USA, France, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, China (incl Hong Kong & Macau).

Cities : Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Geneva, Singapore, Copenhagen, Barcelona, London, Berlin, Seoul

Top international meeting countries in 2004 – Minimum of 45 international meetings

Country            Number of meetings    Percentage of all meetings

1. USA                          1080                             11.79%

2. France                        552                               6.03%

3. Germany                     491                               5.36%

4. UK                              377                               4.12%

5. Spain                          361                               3.94%

6. Italy                            336                               3.67%

7. Switzerland                 302                               3.30%

8. Belgium                      282                               3.08%

9. Austria                        279                               3.05%

10. China, Hong Kong & Macau 231          2.52%

Top international meeting cities in 2004 - Minimum of 20 international meetings

City                  Number of Meetings    Percentage of all Meetings

1. Paris                         221                               2.41%

2. Vienna                      219                               2.39%

3. Brussels                   190                               2.07%

4. Geneva                     188                               2.05%

5. Singapore                 156                               1.70%

6. Copenhagen              137                               1.50%

7. Barcelona                  133                              1.45%

8. London                      131                              1.43%

9. Berlin                        110                               1.20%

10. Seoul                      109                               1.19%

The contents of the complete statistical report follow below.

Associated and complementary information is available in the forthcoming Yearbook of International Organizations: Volume 5 (Statistics, Visualizations and Patterns) which contains extensive statistical information on international meetings and organizations (see http://www.uia.org/uiapubs/vol5.htm)

For more information on UIA Associate Membership, statistical and other information products, please contact us (http://www.uia.org/contact/).