World Cooperative Monitor: new ranking of the largest cooperatives is now available. Focus on SDG 8.
The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse) published today the 2019 issue of the World Cooperative Monitor, the eighth annual one. The report explores the economic and social impact of the largest cooperatives and mutuals worldwide, providing a ranking of the Top 300, sector rankings, and an analysis of contributions to meeting the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 2019 World Cooperative Monitor collected data for 4,575 organisations (1,152 from Europe, 3,218 from Americas, 197 from Asia-Pacific, and 8 from Africa) from 10 sectors of activity. The Top 300 cooperatives and mutuals report a total turnover of over two trillion USD (2,034.98 billion USD), based on 2017 financial data.
2019 Results – The world’s top 300 cooperatives and mutuals operate in various economic sectors, but this year’s results show a larger presence of the insurance sector in the Top 300: insurance is 39%, agriculture 31.7%, wholesale and retail trade 17.7%, banking and financial services 7%, industry and utilities 1%, health, education and social care 1%. New this year is data on employment and cooperative types.
This year’s results show the largest cooperatives performing well, with only slight variations in the top positions across the sectors. In the Top 300 ranking based on turnover Groupe Crédit Agricole and Groupe BPCE, both from France, are placed first and second respectively as they did last year, third is the German REWE Group. And in the Top 300 based on the ratio of turnover over gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranking, two Indian producer cooperatives reach the second and third positions: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited and IFFCO.
Focus on SDG 8. This year’s report has a special analysis of the Top 300 and the eighth United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (Inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all – SDG 8).
Three cases in particular related to SDG 8 are explored in depth within the report: Up Groupe (France), KRIBHCO (India), and SOK (Finland). Along with this analysis, featured within the section there is an interview with the Secretary General of CICOPA, Diana Dovgan.
The contribution to the SDGs and the importance of the World Cooperative Monitor was cited by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held in New York in September 2019.
This new edition of the World Cooperative Monitor goes beyond the Top 300 ranking based on turnover to further explore the dynamics of the cooperative movement. As highlighted by the United Nations, cooperatives make a substantial contribution to achieving the 2030 UN Agenda on Sustainable Development. In this year’s report, we see concrete examples of specific action undertaken by some of the largest from around the worldIn this year’s report, we see concrete examples of specific actions taken by some of the largest from around the world.
Bruno Roelants, Director-General of the ICA
Euricse Secretary General, speaking to the role of cooperatives in achieving the UN 2030 agenda said:
Cooperatives must take on (and communicate) a strategy for sustainable development able to represent an effective alternative to the mainstream shareholder model, able to comprehensively respond to present challenges. In fact the more organisations participate in reporting initiatives that enable the collection of reliable and internationally comparable data, the more research and analysis can be done to demonstrate the social and economic impact of cooperatives.
Gianluca Salvatori, Euricse Secretary General
About WCM. The World Cooperative Monitor is a project designed to collect robust economic, organizational, and social data about cooperatives, mutual organisations and non-cooperative organisations controlled by cooperatives worldwide. It is the only report of its kind collecting annual quantitative data on the global cooperative movement. 2019 marks the eighth edition of the annual research report produced by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) with the scientific and technical support of the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse).
Download the World Cooperative Monitor 2019
Download the Executive Summary WCM 2019
