The Group of Seven (G7) and the Group of Twenty (G20) are informal governance clubs, which hold annual Summits of Heads of State and many ministerial meetings to discuss issues of global importance.
The G7 is a more homogenous group of western countries, which has been meeting since 1975. It is a subset of the newer and more diverse G20, which better represents the emerging multi-polar world order.
The agendas of the two clubs overlap, with the G7 generally engaging in more political and security-related issues than the G20, which in the beginning focused on global economic and finance governance, but expanded its scope to include trade, climate change, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption.
1. Sequence of G7/G8 and G20 Presidencies
The following timeline juxtaposes the past and future G7 and G20 presidencies:
In 2025, the presidencies of the G7 and G20 Summits are held by Canada and South Africa, respectively.
The South African G20 Presidency in 2025 was the first held by an African nation.
| G7 | G20 | |
| 2019 | Biarriz, France | Osaka, Japan |
| 2020 | Camp David, USA | Riad, Saudi-Arabia |
| 2021 | Cornwall, England | Rom, Italy |
| 2022 | Schloss Elmau, Germany | Bali, Indonesia |
| 2023 | Hiroshima, Japan | Neu-Delhi, India |
| 2024 | Fasano, Italy | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 2025 | Kananaskis, Kanada | Johannesburg, South Africa |
2. Membership
- The G7 is comprised of wealthy, democratic member countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, and Germany. The Group first met as the G6 in 1975 to address the oil crisis and recession. Canada and Russia joined in 1976 and 1998, respectively. Following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the G7 nations suspended Russia’s membership. The Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission represent the EU as a member, but they are not part of the hosting rotation.
- The G20 is comprised of the G7 countries including the European Union, plus originally twelve countries of global economic and political importance. In 2023, the African Union joined the G20 as a full member.
- The G20 was launched in 1999 at the level of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors and, then, with the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, at the Heads of State level.
Get more information
- Heinrich Boell Foundation: www.us.boell.org
- For additional economic data on G7/G8 and G20 consult: www.destatis.de.
- Outcomes of the Japanese G7 Summit in 2016: www.japan.go.jp/g7.
- Chinese G20 Summit (2016): www.g20.org/English.
- University of Toronto G20 Information Center: www.g20.utoronto.ca.
- Heinrich Boell Foundation, Washington, DC Office, including its dossiers.
- For additional economic data on G7/G8 and G20 consult DESTATIS.
- Outcome of Italian G7 Summit (2024)
- Outcome of Brazilian G20 Summit (2024)
- University of Toronto G7 and G20 Information Center
This article is part of our dossier "G20 in Focus".
