G20, OECD, and Asia network · Lowy Institute 2024
The number of a country's diplomatic posts abroad: embassies, consulates and permanent missions to international organisations.
Lowy Institute Global Diplomacy Index, 2024 edition. The perimeter covers G20 and OECD members plus Asia — only 65 countries: those missing are not countries without a network, but countries outside the survey.
A dense network is infrastructure, not opinion: it takes decades to build, and it serves as much to listen as to negotiate. Its growth is a leading indicator of ambition.
China overtook the United States in number of posts in 2019 and has widened the gap since, expanding above all in Africa and the Pacific. France still holds one of the three largest networks worldwide, a colonial legacy and a deliberate choice of universal presence.