ASSOCIATION’ S 2025 REPORT ENHANCED BY INCLUSION OF A MORE STRATEGIC AND CONTEXTUALISED VIEW OF INTERNATIONAL MEETING ACTIVITY

the respective lists from the International Congress and Convention Association( ICCA)’ s latest ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings 2025. This latest edition of ICCA’ s flagship research publication, compiled by the ICCAResearch team, analysed data from 12,438 international association meetings worldwide and the data offers authoritative insight into the evolving global meetings and events landscape.

The report for 2025 introduced enhancements that provide a more strategic and contextual view of international meeting activity. Beyond the core rankings, this edition delivers in depth insights organised by region, meeting size, and sector, combining data analysis with geographical perspective and forward looking intelligence. These elements reflect the continued evolution of the ICCARankings as a global reference point for association meetings.

The 2025 data captures over 12,438 ICCA-eligible international and regional association meetings across all continents. Europe holds the largest share, with Asia-Pacific and North America following. Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East continue to grow their presence. Together, the six regions reflect how broadly knowledge spreads when people gather in person.

The USA continued to lead the Country rankings in 2025. Japan climbed to 6th globally, while other notable movers included Brazil, now reaching 13th place and surpassing its pre-2020 meeting volumes, a signal of Latin America’ s growing global standing.

At the city level, Lisbon, Paris, and Barcelona lead the 2025 rankings. Vienna, Singapore, Prague, Copenhagen, London, Seoul, and Tokyo round out the top 10.

Leading sectors Medical Sciences, Technology, and Science remain the leading knowledge sectors, with Education, Industry, Social Sciences, Management, and Economics following. The breadth of subject representation, from Architecture and Historical Sciences to Ecology and Safety, reflects the cross-disciplinary reach of international association meetings.

Safety & Security( 208 meetings in 2025) and Library & Information( 168 meetings in 2025) rebounded strongly despite their smaller base. Each grew nearly 3.9 times from their 2021 lows, ahead of larger sectors such as Industry( 3.5 times) and Economics( 3.6 times). Both sectors point to growing institutional focus on information governance and risk management.

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