About
The OECD Insights series explains the important issues facing society in a way that is clear and comprehensible. The Insights blog gives you a voice in shaping those explanations.
About OECD
Fast facts
History established in 1961
Headquarters Paris, France
Membership 34 countries
Budget EUR 342 million
Secretary-General Angel Gurría
Secretariat staff 2 500
Publications 250 new titles/year
Our mission
The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. We work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. We measure productivity and global flows of trade and investment. We analyse and compare data to predict future trends. We set international standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals.
We look, too, at issues that directly affect the lives of ordinary people, like how much they pay in taxes and social security, and how much leisure time they can take. We compare how different countries’ school systems are readying their young people for modern life, and how different countries’ pension systems will look after their citizens in old age.
Drawing on facts and real-life experience, we recommend policies designed to make the lives of ordinary people better. We work with business, through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, and with labour, through the Trade Union Advisory Committee. We have active contacts as well with other civil society organisations. The common thread of our work is a shared commitment to market economies backed by democratic institutions and focused on the wellbeing of all citizens. Along the way, we also set out to make life harder for the terrorists, tax dodgers, crooked businessmen and others whose actions undermine a fair and open society.
The OECD’s core values
- Objective:Our analyses and recommendations are independent and evidence-based.
- Open:We encourage debate and a shared understanding of critical global issues.
- Bold: We dare to challenge conventional wisdom starting with our own.
- Pioneering:We identify and address emerging and long term challenges.
- Ethical: Our credibility is built on trust, integrity and transparency.
