G20 History: How did the group form? Know all about the origin of the all-powerful bloc

Do you know what exactly G20 is, when exactly it came into existence, and why? Here’s a lowdown on all you need to know about the G20 bloc, comprising the world's richest and most powerful countries. 

G20 History: When did the Group of Twenty come into being?

The Group of Twenty, or G20, was founded in 1999 following the financial crisis of 1997-98. It was then an informal forum for the finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the most important industrialised and developing economies to discuss issues related to the global economy and finance.

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In other words, a group of countries formed an economic grouping after the Asian financial crisis in 1999, with the understanding that such crises could no longer be contained within a nation's borders and required better international economic cooperation.

Over the next decade, the Group of Twenty was upgraded to the level of Heads of State/Government in the wake of the global financial crisis and eventually designated the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

Only Treasury chiefs met as part of the G20 grouping in the initial years. However, heads of all member nations decided later on to meet once a year for a leaders' summit after the global financial crisis of 2008.

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The history of G20 Summits

The first G20 Summit was held in 2008 in Washington DC, the United States, which would set the scene for the most dramatic reform of global finance in over 60 years.

At the follow-up summit in 2009 in London, the United Kingdom, the G20 agreed to blacklist states that refused to cooperate on efforts to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.

The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the US—the third meeting of the bloc, also took place in 2009, and established the G20 as a major decision-making body on matters relating to the global economy. 

Here's the list of summits held in the following years: 

• 2010 & 2011: Toronto, Seoul, Cannes 
• 2012, 2013 & 2014: Los Cabos, St. Petersburg, Brisbane 
• 2015 & 2016: Antalya and Hangzhou 
• 2017: Hamburg 
• 2018: Buenos Aires 
• 2019: Osaka 
• 2020: Saudi Arabia 
• 2021: Italy 
• 2022: Indonesia 

What is G20 today?

The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. The G20 bloc, which accounts for more than four-fifths of the world’s gross domestic production (GDP) and three-fourths of international trade, plays a vital role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.

The Group of Twenty has Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, as its members. Each G20 Presidency invites other guest countries and international organisations (IOs) to participate in the G20 meetings and the G20 Summit.

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The G20 members represent around two-thirds of the world's population.