More than 7 million people worldwide joined credit unions in 2013, according to a new report from the World Council of Credit Unions in Madison, Wis.

Nearly 208 million residents of planet Earth now belong, almost half in the United States. The number of credit unions worldwide also increased from 55,952 to 56,904. And the number of countries also edged up from 101 to 103 with Rwanda and Zambia added to the 2013 report.

The 2,540 credit unions in Latin America posted the highest membership number among the world's cooperatives, adding 3.1 million new members. The WOCCU annual statistical report was released in conjunction with its annual meeting last week in Australia.

Ecuador is home to the largest number of cooperatives with 946 serving 4.8 million members. Brazil is second with 668 credit unions with 5.4 million members, and Colombia is third, home to 192 cooperatives with 2.1 million members.

In the U.S. membership increased from 95 million to 97 million for a gain of more than 2.3 million from 2012 to 2013.

Canada lost 72,918 members. In 2012, our northern neighbor had 10,229,741 members compared to 10,156,823 members in 2013, according to the WOCCU Statistical Report.

Like the U.S., Canadian cooperatives continued to disappear mainly through consolidation. In 2012, there were 771 credit unions in Canada. In 2013 that number dropped to 724. In the U.S., 6,960 cooperatives were operating in 2012. That number fell to 6,681 last year.

Across the pond in Europe, however, the number of cooperatives increased from 2,320 in 2012 to 2,390 in 2013 for a gain of 70. In those same years, the number of new members also shot up by more than 623,000 from 8,571,745 to 9,194,969 in a dozen European nations.

In Europe, the highest number of credit unions is in Ukraine at 624 that serve 1.2 million members, followed by the Republic of Ireland with 479 cooperatives and 3.3 million members. Great Britain posted the third-highest number of credit unions with 375 serving 1.2 million members.

Africa also is growing in credit unions and members. The 22,385 credit unions in 25 countries added a little more than 1 million new members. Total membership grew from 16,022,707 in 2012 to 17,032,310 in 2013, and the number of cooperatives increased from 20,831 in 2012, the WOCCU Statistical Report showed.

Ethiopia is home to the most credit unions with 7,154 that serve 706,200 members. Tanzania has the second most number of cooperatives with 5,559 and 1.1 million members, while Kenya has the third most credit unions with 5,000 that serve 4.7 million members.

Even though Asia is the world's largest continent with more than 4.2 billion people, its cooperatives attracted only 694,197 new members last year. Membership totaled 42,017,122 in 2013, up from 41,322,925.

However, the number of credit unions in that continent fell by 364 from 21,934 in 2012 to 21,570, according to the WOCCU report

Sri Lanka has by far the most credit unions with 8,424 but they serve only 945,903 members, followed by Thailand that is home to 2,232 cooperatives with 3.9 million members. India is third with 1,606 credit unions that serve 20 million members and have a market share of 2.46%.

On the continent of Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand and other nations, credit unions lost 211,791 members, bringing its total down to 4.9 million in 2013 from the 5.1 million in 2012, according to WOCCU's Statistical Report. That continent's number of credit union also fell from 278 in 2012 to 216 last year.

Australia had 101 cooperatives that serve 4.5 million members. Credit unions in the Caribbean–including the Bahamas, Bermuda and Jamaica–increased their membership by more than 125,000, bringing the total membership to 3.1 million last year, up from 3 million in 2012, the WOCCU report showed.

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Credit Unions Add 7 Million Members in 2013: WOCCU

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