One indication (certainly not the only indication) of the strength of a national 
Scouting organization might be the size of the per capita percentage.  Per capita 
percentage, for this purpose, is the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) 
membership numbers divided by the population of the country. 

As of June 1998 there are 150 countries with WOSM recognized National Scout
Organizations. The countries that had population figures are listed below.

Membership: The membership which is shown in these 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. 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 (WAGGGS).  
The only organization included in the numbers from the USA is the BSA, the GSUSA
is not included in the numbers on this page since they are part of WAGGGS not WOSM.

Sources:
WOSM Membership figures from http://www.scout.org except for BSA figures 
which are from BSA National's publication ProSpeak as of 12/31/98 (WOSM numbers were 
about 1 million more).  BSA numbers do not include Learning for Life which does
not have WOSM members.  Country population figures are from:
U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base and The World Factbook, 1997.

Ranking Country              Membership Country Pop.Per Capita
   1    Indonesia              9,896,357 212,941,810    4.65%
   2    Philippines            2,888,265  77,725,862    3.72%
   3    Kiribati                   1,798      83,976    2.14%
   4    Thailand               1,050,365  60,037,366    1.75%
   5    United States          4,583,569 270,311,758    1.70% (BSA Only)
   6    Dominica                   1,100      65,777    1.67%
   7    Maldives                   4,543     290,211    1.57%
   8    Liechtenstein                496      31,717    1.56%
   9    Ireland                   51,903   3,619,480    1.43%
   10   Luxembourg                 5,853     425,017    1.38%
   11   Barbados                   3,041     259,025    1.17%
   12   Fiji                       9,205     802,611    1.15%
   13   Grenada                    1,052      96,217    1.09%
   14   United Kingdom           630,954  58,970,119    1.07%
   15   Denmark                   53,258   5,333,617    1.00%
   16   New Zealand               33,673   3,625,388    0.93%
   17   Belgium                   92,691  10,174,922    0.91%
   18   Canada                   272,070  30,675,398    0.89%
   19   Gambia                    11,056   1,291,858    0.86%
   20   Brunei Darussalam          2,617     315,292    0.83%
   21   Sweden                    71,033   8,886,738    0.80%
   22   Hong Kong (P.R.C.)        53,049   6,706,965    0.79%  (July 1998 est.)
   23   San Marino                   193      24,894    0.78%
   24   Finland                   38,132   5,149,242    0.74%
   25   Qatar                      5,096     697,126    0.73%
   26   Malta                      2,772     379,563    0.73%
   27   Belize                     1,643     230,160    0.71%
   28   Cyprus                     5,013     748,982    0.67%
   29   Australia                124,424  18,613,087    0.67%
   30   Iceland                    1,692     271,033    0.62%
   31   Bangladesh               784,054 127,567,002    0.61%
   32   Suriname                   2,601     427,980    0.61%
   33   Kenya                    168,021  28,337,071    0.59%
   34   Bahamas                    1,644     279,833    0.59%
   35   Korea, Republic of       263,796  46,416,796    0.57%
   36   St. Vincent/Grenadine        676     119,818    0.56%
   37   Trinidad & Tobago          6,210   1,116,595    0.56%
   38   Portugal                  52,208   9,927,556    0.53%
   39   Swaziland                  4,994     966,462    0.52%
   40   Poland                   187,022  38,606,922    0.48%
   41   Malaysia                  93,449  20,932,901    0.45%
   42   Tunisia                   40,920   9,380,404    0.44%
   43   Switzerland               31,553   7,260,357    0.43%
   44   Norway                    18,956   4,419,955    0.43%
   45   Comoros                    2,200     545,528    0.40%
   46   Oman                       9,495   2,363,591    0.40%
   47   Netherlands               61,196  15,731,112    0.39%
   48   Israel                    21,920   5,643,966    0.39%
   49   Slovenia                   7,301   1,971,739    0.37%
   50   Czech Republic            35,610  10,286,470    0.35%
   51   Saint Lucia                  516     152,335    0.34%
   52   Taiwan                    72,927  21,908,135    0.33%
   53   Pakistan                 441,677 135,135,195    0.33%
   54   Botswana                   4,660   1,448,454    0.32%
   55   Togo                      15,759   4,905,827    0.32%
   56   Jordan                    14,238   4,434,978    0.32%
   57   Gabon                      3,835   1,207,844    0.32%
   58   Kuwait                     6,061   1,913,285    0.32%
   59   Singapore                 10,392   3,490,356    0.30%
   60   Bahrain                    1,820     616,342    0.30%
   61   Uganda                    65,152  22,167,195    0.29%
   62   Saudi Arabia              54,994  20,785,955    0.26%
   63   Panama                     7,111   2,735,943    0.26%
   64   Mauritius                  2,998   1,168,256    0.26%
   65   United Arab Emirates       5,824   2,303,088    0.25%
   66   Lebanon                    8,450   3,505,794    0.24%
   67   Chile                     35,180  14,787,781    0.24%
   68   Spain                     89,256  39,133,996    0.23%
   69   Libyan Arab Jamahiriy     12,902   5,690,727    0.23%
   70   Central African Repl.      7,000   3,375,771    0.21%
   71   Mongolia                   5,311   2,578,530    0.21%
   72   Italy                    115,449  56,782,748    0.20%
   73   Austria                   16,455   8,133,087    0.20%
   74   France                   117,531  58,804,944    0.20%
   75   Japan                    244,827 125,931,533    0.19%
   76   Hungary                   19,809  10,208,127    0.19%
   77   Monaco                        62      32,035    0.19%
   78   Benin                     11,587   6,100,799    0.19%
   79   Macedonia                  3,500   2,009,387    0.17%
   80   Germany                  133,942  82,079,454    0.16%
   81   Greece                    17,378  10,662,138    0.16%
   82   India                  1,591,083 984,003,683    0.16%
   83   Costa Rica                 5,688   3,604,642    0.16%
   84   Jamaica                    4,133   2,634,678    0.16%
   85   Sierra Leone               7,963   5,080,004    0.16%
   86   Haiti                      9,859   6,780,501    0.15%
   87   Sri Lanka                 25,288  18,933,558    0.13%
   88   Tanzania                  40,809  30,608,769    0.13%
   89   Congo                     62,842  49,000,511    0.13%
   90   Burundi                    6,661   5,537,387    0.12%
   91   Yugoslavia                12,080  10,526,135    0.11%
   92   Egypt                     74,598  66,050,004    0.11%
   93   Nepal                     24,889  23,698,421    0.11%
   94   Argentina                 35,633  36,265,463    0.10%
   95   Burkina Faso              10,165  11,266,393    0.09%
   96   Bolivia                    6,859   7,826,352    0.09%
   97   Liberia                    2,418   2,771,901    0.09%
   98   Uruguay                    2,841   3,284,841    0.09%
   99   Namibia                    1,378   1,622,328    0.08%
  100   Slovakia                   4,510   5,392,982    0.08%
  101   Croatia                    3,865   4,671,584    0.08%
  102   Honduras                   4,319   5,861,955    0.07%
  103   El Salvador                4,180   5,752,067    0.07%
  104   Estonia                    1,016   1,421,335    0.07%
  105   Mauritania                 1,779   2,511,473    0.07%
  106   Rwanda                     5,479   7,956,172    0.07%
  107   Belarus                    7,050  10,409,050    0.07%
  108   Syria                     11,073  16,673,282    0.07%
  109   Madagascar                 8,857  14,462,509    0.06%
  110   Senegal                    5,882   9,723,149    0.06%
  111   Mexico                    59,531  98,552,776    0.06%
  112   Guatemala                  7,247  12,007,580    0.06%
  113   Armenia                     2035   3,421,775    0.06%
  114   Papua New Guinea           2,599   4,599,785    0.06%
  115   Iraq                      12,000  21,722,287    0.06%
  116   Angola                     6,000  10,864,512    0.06%
  117   Colombia                  20,973  38,580,949    0.05%
  118   Venezuela                 12,371  22,803,409    0.05%
  119   Nicaragua                  2,298   4,583,379    0.05%
  120   South Africa              21,323  42,834,520    0.05%
  121   Peru                      12,276  26,111,110    0.05%
  122   Guinea                     3,470   7,477,110    0.05%
  123   Ecuador                    5,536  12,336,572    0.04%
  124   Zimbabwe                   4,817  11,044,147    0.04%
  125   Cameroon                   6,535  15,029,433    0.04%
  126   Morocco                   12,304  29,114,497    0.04%
  127   Nigeria                   46,701 110,532,242    0.04%
  128   Côte-d,Ivoire              6,436  15,446,231    0.04%
  129   Lithuania                  1,500   3,600,158    0.04%
  130   Guyana                       294     707,954    0.04%
  131   Sudan                     13,550  33,550,552    0.04%
  132   Dominican Republic         3,200   7,998,766    0.04%
  133   Yemen                      6,481  16,387,963    0.04%
  134   Chad                       2,850   7,359,512    0.04%
  135   Moldova, Republic of       1,540   4,457,729    0.03%
  136   Brazil                    58,493 169,806,557    0.03%
  137   Latvia                       801   2,385,396    0.03%
   1    Algeria                   10,000  30,480,793    0.03%
   2    Zambia                      3031   9,460,736    0.03%
   3    Paraguay                   1,240   5,291,020    0.02%
   4    Romania                    4,930  22,395,848    0.02%
   5    Georgia                    1,063   5,108,527    0.02%
   6    Tajikistan                 1,100   6,020,095    0.02%
   7    Lesotho                      371   2,089,829    0.02%
   8    Turkey                    11,252  64,566,511    0.02%
   9    Ghana                      3,186  18,497,206    0.02%
   10   Niger                      1,230   9,671,848    0.01%




NOTES:

The figures represent total membership numbers compared to total population.  
The figures do not represent the total population of 'Scout age' youth in each 
country nor the populations within each organization broken down by age, since 
the information is not available to the author.  This problem is compounded by 
the fact that different organizations, some within the same country, have different 
beginning and ending ages for their programs. 

The reader should take into account that Scouting is run differently in different 
countries.  In the Philippines, for example, which shows the second highest level 
of "market penetration" the scouting program is run as an in-school program with 
paid scoutmasters.  Compared to that of Hong Kong, for example, where there is 
an all-volunteer program without the support of the current government.




End of rec.Scouting FAQ #8
**************************