Countries of the Universal Postal Union

[satish]

Member Countries and Non-Member Countries of Universal Postal Union
There are 190 member "countries" of the Universal Postal Union, a United Nations-based organization that seeks "to foster the sustainable development of quality universal, efficient accessible postal services in order to facilitate communication among the people of the world."
Since there are 193 countries in the world but only 190 member countries of the UPU, who's not part of this useful organization? There are actualy five non-member countries but two non-country members!

Country Non-Members

The five non-member countries include three former United States territories, for whom the United States Postal Service still delivers the mail - the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau.
The other two are Andorra and Taiwan. Andorra is listed as a "UN member country whose situation with regard to the UPU has not yet been settled." Taiwan is an interesting case because they're not listed as being part of China, as one might expect

Non-Country Members
The two non-country members are the 1) Netherlands Antilles and Aruba and the 2) Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland


How does one become a member of the UPU?
According to their site, "any country member of the United Nations may become members of the UPU. Any country non-member of the United Nations may become member provided that its request is approved by at least two-thirds of the member countries of the UPU." Apparently, a country non-member of the U.N. doesn't even have to be a real country

[waytosatya]

Thank you so much for this valuable information.

[sivaharimani]

sathis, thanks for this informative post