World Co-operative Monitor shows Top 300 co-ops worth 2.2 trillion

09 October 2014

The third edition of the World Co-operative Monitor has been released at the International Summit of Co-operatives, Quebec City. The research has revealed the turnover of the largest 300 co-operatives has grown to 2.2 trillion USD, an increase of 11.6% since the previous edition and equivalent to the GDP of Brazil.

View the report online: 2014 World Co-operative Monitor

With $2,200 billion in revenue, the top 300 cooperatives are equal to the world’s seventh largest economy, International Summit of Cooperatives, 8 Oct

World’s top 300 co-operatives are worth $2.2 trillion, Co-operatives News, 8 Oct

ICA: 2014 World Co-operative Monitor shows Top 300 co-operatives to have a turnover of 2.2 trillion USD – equivalent to 7th largest economy in the world

Québec City, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 – The International Co-operative Alliance publishes today the 2014 report of The World Co-operative Monitor, its global statistical report on the co-operative and mutual economy. The Monitor ranks the top 300 co-operatives by turnover as well as by ratio of turnover to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. This way it relates the turnover figure to the purchasing power of the country in which it operates, so impact can be assessed.

The 300 largest co-operative and mutual enterprises accounted for 2,205.7 billion USD in turnover (Banking 153.1Bn, Insurance 1,024.3Bn, Others 1,028.3Bn). Covering 26 countries, the three leading sectors these top 300 co-operatives are active in are: insurance (41%), agriculture and food (27%), and wholesale and retail (20%). Next come Industry and Utilities (5%), Banking and Financial services (4%), Health and Social Care (1%), and others (2%).

Ranking first in this year’s Co-operative Monitor is the Japanese insurer ZENKYOREN (turnover: 77.61 billion USD). The French Group LECLERC moves from the 7th to the 5th position. German EDEKA Zentrale climbs from 13 to 10. US Insurer STATE FARM GROUP keeps its #4 position. Spanish MAPFRE moves one place up, ranking now at 19, as does MIGROS, this year at 20. Dutch Rabobank jumps 10 positions up, from 45 to 35. The fastest climber is the Swedish agriculture co-operative LANTMÄNNEN, from 263 to 88.

Aside from the top 300, the Monitor aims to collect the available economic and social data on co-operatives around the world so as to demonstrate the global impact and viability of the model as an alternative to the traditionally dominant for-profit stakeholder model. Altogether, 1,926 co-operatives make up the Monitor’s database, with this year more African and Asian countries participating than the previous years. Indeed, 16 new countries have been included since 2013.

Of the 1,926 co-operatives included in the Monitor, 1,313 have a turnover of over 100 million USD, and are spread across 50 countries. Sector-by-sector, these co-operatives are insurers (24%), agriculture and food co-ops (17%), wholesale and retail trade co-operatives (17%). 4% of them are industry and utilities co-operatives, 2% provide banking and financial services, 1% is in health, with the remaining 4% other sectors.

Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Co-operative Alliance: “Through the World Co-operative Monitor, the Alliance delivers again this year the empirical evidence that co-operative enterprise is an important, global economic force. The economic importance of co-operatives is beneficial to a country’s economy. Co-operatives stabilize and strengthen the economic fabric, because they are more risk-averse and less driven by the need to make profits than are investor enterprises. I’m very glad to see the growth in the 2014 Monitor figures, because the healthier cooperatives are, the more they improve economic stability.

Co-operatives also provide a welcome alternative to the investor enterprise model. The cooperative form of enterprise puts people first, rather than profit. Co-operatives provide a means to create your own employment, to find a job with an enterprise that aligns with your own values, and it lets people be member-owners of enterprises where their voice is heard.

These are powerful arguments, but like other business models, co-operatives have a right to governments’ recognition of this added value. To maximise their benefits for society, cooperatives require a level-playing field in terms of policy and legislation. Only then can they help build a better society and a more stable economy.”

Gianluca Salvatori, CEO of Euricse: “the main goal of the Monitor is to depict a multidimension representation of the global panorama of co-operatives and mutual organizations worldwide based not only on turnover but also on social value. The largest co-operatives in the world contribute to the welfare of the countries in which they operate in terms of employment, facilities, etc. Whilst it is intended to be exploratory, rather than all-inclusive, we hope to keep expanding the number of co-operatives it covers so as to represent the cooperative sector in its organisational, regional and sectoral diversity. From the evidence I’ve seen, this is a sector in constant growth which is able to withstand the global financial crisis.”

By and large, data was collected through an online questionnaire addressed directly to cooperative and mutual organizations. This data was then integrated with existing databases and other data collected by national associations, research institutes, sectorial organizations and others.