History of Appointments by Continent

In This Section

The chart below shows the division of ambassador slots by continent between career appointments and political appointments since 1960.

Updated July 15, 2016

Note: AFSA is working to update this page with data from the Trump administration.

Continent Career Appointments Political Appointments % Political Since 1960
Western Europe 1 107 281 72.4%
Caribbean 2 45 114 71.7%
Oceania 3 83 73 46.8%
North & Central America 4 91 66 42.0%
South Asia 5 93 33 26.2%
East Asia 6 162 52 24.3%
South America 7 175 48 21.5%
Eastern Europe 8 174 45 20.5%
Africa 9 676 112 14.2%
The Middle East 10 246 39 13.7%
Central Asia 11 56 0 0%

1Western Europe includes Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
2Caribbean includes Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.
3Oceania includes Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
4North & Central America includes Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
5South Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
6East Asia includes Brunei Darussalam, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
7South America includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
8Eastern Europe includes Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
9Africa includes Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (DR), Congo (Republic of), Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
10The Middle East includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
11Central Asia includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

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