UN, WHO, UNESCO, IMF, World Bank, WTO and BRICS: Headquarters, Heads, Capitals and Currencies

The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest international organisation, set up after the Second World War to maintain peace, protect human rights and promote development. Around it sits a large family of specialised agencies and related bodies such as the WHO, UNESCO, the IMF and the World Bank. Alongside them, groups like the WTO and BRICS shape global trade, finance and politics.

Every competitive exam, from WBCS and SSC to UPSC, Railway and Banking, asks questions on UN organs, agency headquarters, who heads which body, BRICS members and capitals and currencies. This article puts all of it in one place, with 2026 updates, memory tricks and 20 practice MCQs.

➤ UN founded: 24 October 1945 (51 founding members), now 193 members
➤ UN headquarters: New York, USA
➤ Principal organs: six (Trusteeship Council is suspended since 1994)
➤ UN Secretary-General: António Guterres (term ends 31 December 2026)
➤ BRICS: 10 confirmed full members, 10 partner countries, 18th Summit in New Delhi (12–13 September 2026)
➤ WTO: founded 1 January 1995, headquarters Geneva, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
➤ IMF and World Bank: both in Washington, D.C.; heads Kristalina Georgieva and Ajay Banga

1. United Nations (UN): Basic Facts

Six Principal Organs

Secretaries-General of the UN

2026 Update: Selecting the Next Secretary-General

• Guterres's second term ends on 31 December 2026; his successor will be the 10th Secretary-General and take office on 1 January 2027.
• The process began on 25 November 2025. Under Article 97 of the Charter, the General Assembly appoints the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council.
• The Council uses secret straw polls (encourage / discourage / no opinion). Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica (head of UNCTAD) has led most of the polls reported so far, but no final recommendation was confirmed in the sources I checked. Re-check before your exam.
• The UN has never had a woman Secretary-General. Many observers see this as Latin America's turn.

2. UN Security Council (UNSC)

• Permanent members (P5): China, France, Russia, UK, USA, each with veto power.
• Non-permanent members: 10, elected by the UNGA for two-year terms; five are replaced every year. A candidate needs a two-thirds majority of members present and voting (at least 129 votes if all 193 vote).
• 2026 non-permanent members: Bahrain, Colombia, DR Congo, Latvia and Liberia (2026–27), plus Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia (terms end 2026).
• Elected in June 2026 for 2027–28: Austria, Kyrgyzstan (first time ever), Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe.
• India's angle: India has served as a non-permanent member eight times, most recently in 2021–22, and seeks a permanent seat. Read more in our related notes on India and international organisations.

3. Specialised Agencies and Related Bodies

Trap alert: the WTO and the IAEA are not UN specialised agencies, although both work closely with the UN. The IMF and World Bank Group are specialised agencies.

UNESCO and West Bengal

• Durga Puja in Kolkata was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021.
• Santiniketan was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2023.
• Sundarbans National Park (1987) and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1999) are also World Heritage Sites.

IMF and World Bank

• Both were born from the Bretton Woods Conference (July 1944), so they are called the Bretton Woods twins.
• The IMF looks after monetary stability and lends for balance-of-payments problems; its reserve asset is the Special Drawing Right (SDR).
• The World Bank Group has five institutions: IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA and ICSID.

4. World Trade Organization (WTO)

• The WTO is not a UN agency.
• Key agreements: GATT (goods), GATS (services) and TRIPS (intellectual property).
• Its Dispute Settlement system is weakened because the Appellate Body has been non-functional since December 2019.

5. BRICS

Origin and Timeline

Members and Partners (2026)

• Full members (10 confirmed): Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE and Indonesia.
• Saudi Arabia: invited in 2023, but sources disagree on whether it formally joined. It attended the 2026 summit but is not clearly a confirmed member, so some sources count 11 members and others 10.
• Partner countries (10): Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
• NDB: headed by Dilma Rousseff (former President of Brazil). For more on India's global groupings, see India and global groupings.

6. Capitals and Currencies

Also revise our notes on world capitals and currencies for more country pairs.

20 Practice MCQs

Q1. How many founding members did the UN have in 1945?
(a) 50
(b) 51
(c) 52
(d) 193

Answer: (b) – The UN began with 51 founding members; 193 is today's count.

Q2. Which principal organ of the UN is NOT headquartered in New York?
(a) General Assembly
(b) Security Council
(c) ECOSOC
(d) International Court of Justice

Answer: (d) – The ICJ sits at The Hague, Netherlands.

Q3. How many member states does the UN have at present?
(a) 193
(b) 195
(c) 191
(d) 197

Answer: (a) – 193 members; 195 is a trap, as it adds the two observer states.

Q4. Which principal organ of the UN suspended operations in 1994?
(a) ECOSOC
(b) Secretariat
(c) Trusteeship Council
(d) ICJ

Answer: (c) – It stopped work after Palau's independence.

Q5. Where is the headquarters of the World Health Organization located?
(a) Paris
(b) Geneva
(c) New York
(d) Rome

Answer: (b) – WHO is in Geneva; Paris hosts UNESCO.

Q6. Who took charge as Director-General of UNESCO in November 2025?
(a) Khaled El-Enany
(b) Audrey Azoulay
(c) Irina Bokova
(d) Koichiro Matsuura

Answer: (a) – El-Enany of Egypt succeeded Audrey Azoulay.

Q7. Which one of the following is NOT a UN specialised agency?
(a) FAO
(b) ILO
(c) WHO
(d) WTO

Answer: (d) – The WTO is an independent organisation, not a UN specialised agency.

Q8. The Director-General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, belongs to which country?
(a) Brazil
(b) India
(c) Nigeria
(d) France

Answer: (c) – She is Nigerian, the first woman and first African to lead the WTO.

Q9. Ajay Banga is which President of the World Bank?
(a) 14th
(b) 13th
(c) 12th
(d) 15th

Answer: (a) – He became the 14th President on 2 June 2023.

Q10. Which country joined BRIC in 2010 to make it BRICS?
(a) Egypt
(b) South Africa
(c) Indonesia
(d) Iran

Answer: (b) – South Africa added the "S"; Egypt and Iran joined in 2024.

Q11. Where is the headquarters of the BRICS New Development Bank?
(a) Moscow
(b) New Delhi
(c) Brasília
(d) Shanghai

Answer: (d) – The NDB is based in Shanghai, China.

Q12. The 18th BRICS Summit (2026) was held in which city?
(a) Rio de Janeiro
(b) Kazan
(c) New Delhi
(d) Johannesburg

Answer: (c) – India hosted it on 12–13 September 2026; Rio was 2025 and Kazan was 2024.

Q13. What is the currency of Ethiopia?
(a) Naira
(b) Birr
(c) Rand
(d) Pound

Answer: (b) – The Birr; Naira is Nigeria's and Rand is South Africa's currency.

Q14. Which of the following is a BRICS partner country (not a full member) in 2026?
(a) Vietnam
(b) Egypt
(c) Iran
(d) Indonesia

Answer: (a) – Vietnam is a partner; the other three are full members.

Q15. Which country was elected to the UN Security Council for the first time in June 2026 (term 2027–28)?
(a) Austria
(b) Portugal
(c) Kyrgyzstan
(d) Zimbabwe

Answer: (c) – Kyrgyzstan is a first-time member.

Q16. Under which Article of the UN Charter is the Secretary-General appointed?
(a) Article 27
(b) Article 51
(c) Article 99
(d) Article 97

Answer: (d) – Article 97 says the General Assembly appoints on the Council's recommendation; Article 99 is a different power.

Q17. What is the executive (administrative) capital of South Africa?
(a) Cape Town
(b) Pretoria
(c) Bloemfontein
(d) Johannesburg

Answer: (b) – Pretoria is executive, Cape Town legislative and Bloemfontein judicial.

Q18. Which West Bengal tradition was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021?
(a) Durga Puja in Kolkata
(b) Rath Yatra
(c) Baul songs
(d) Chhau dance

Answer: (a) – Baul and Chhau were inscribed in earlier years, so (c) and (d) are traps.

Q19. What is the minimum number of votes needed to win a UNSC non-permanent seat if all 193 members vote?
(a) 97
(b) 109
(c) 129
(d) 145

Answer: (c) – A two-thirds majority of 193 is 129.

Q20. Who is the Managing Director of the IMF (second term from October 2024)?
(a) Ajay Banga
(b) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
(c) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
(d) Kristalina Georgieva

Answer: (d) – Georgieva of Bulgaria; the others lead the World Bank, WTO and WHO.

Conclusion

For exams, focus on these areas: the six UN organs and which one is outside New York, the P5 and the 2026–2028 Security Council members, headquarters of agencies (Geneva, Rome, Washington, Vienna, Nairobi), the current heads (Tedros, El-Enany, Georgieva, Banga, Okonjo-Iweala), the fact that the WTO is not a UN agency, BRICS members, partners and summit cities, and capitals and currencies. Re-check the UN Secretary-General selection result before your exam, as it was still unfolding at the time of writing.

Reference: NCERT Political Science (Contemporary World Politics, Class 12) and standard General Studies reference books.