Exploring the Co-operative Economy: Report- 2015

Abstract

The World Co-operative Monitor has now reached its fourth year. Each year the Monitor, a partnership between the International Co-operative Alliance (the Alliance) and the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse), collects available economic and social data on the world’s co-operative enterprises. In addition to showcasing the size of the largest co-operative and mutual organizations, it is becoming a key reference point for research and policy pertaining to the co-operative sector, and has informed a number of studies on cooperative enterprises across the world.The World Co-operative Monitor data helps to demonstrate the scale and size of the co-operative movement. To go further and learn more about the impact and performance of the world's largest co-operatives we are committed to continue to build a more robust and comprehensive database with which to conduct in-depth research and studies. We welcome further collaborations with researchers and observatories of the co-operative sector - local, international, or sectorial - in order to enhance the collection of robust and comparable data across nations and sectors. This year, we are pleased to report greater inclusiveness of the dataset and an increase in the total turnover of the Top 300 cooperatives and mutuals to 2,360.05 billion US dollars in 2013.