Counting the number of NGOs is an uncertain science throughout developing countries.  Estimates vary widely.  The inability to accurately determine the number of NGOs is due to the non-uniformity in the definitional criteria utilized and there are often no central tracking agencies at local and regional levels.  

The total number of NGOs around the world, from neighborhood-based groups to large international organizations, surely numbers in the millions. Looking at just developing countries, one leading study placed the number of NGOs at 35,000 (Fisher 1993).  Another study, carried out by UNDP, placed the number of NGOs that work in developing countries at 50,000. According to World Watch Institute’s Annual Report, the number of NGOs in the world has risen from 1000 in 1956, to 20,000 today.

The Directory of Development Organizations provides perhaps the most reliable source for the number of NGOs in developing countries.  The Directory includes a database of NGOs and other relief organizations in developing countries. It includes over 20,000 individual contacts of organizations which offer (non-)financial support, information and advice to the enterprise sectors in developing countries. While it does not come close to listing all NGOs, and it includes some government-operated organizations, it provides solid baseline data that gives a relative idea of NGO numbers.

Directory of Development Organizations

Directory of Development Organizations, www.devdir.org, Last Updated:  13-12-2000 

The number of NGOs varies greatly by region.  The following provides numbers for NGOs in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America:

EASTERN EUROPE

The approximate number of environmental NGOs can be estimated as 800 to 1,000 in Russia, 160 to 200 in Ukraine and 50 to 60 in Moldova.

 Number of NGOs by Country

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, 1998

AFRICA 

The table below lists the number of nongovernmental organizations in Ethiopia. The number of NGOs in Ethiopia by no means is typical of other African countries.

Number of NGOs by Region

Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, 2001 

LATIN AMERICA

One study based on the analysis of 32 NGO directories, placed the number of NGOs in Latin America at 4,372. 

One of the most striking features of the NGO sector in Latin America is its meteoric rise.  A study carried out by ABONG in 1996 showed that nearly 60 percent of the 143 leading NGOs nationwide were established since 1985 and that 15.4 percent since 1990. Only 21 percent of the NGOs are more than 20 years old.  The WWF survey found that only 39.2 percent of the environmental NGOs were more than 10 years old and that the great majority were established at the time of the Earth Summit (UNCED)