List of members of the United Nations Security Council
As of July 2011, there are currently 193 members of the United Nations and five permanent members of the Security Council. The other ten seats are assigned amongst the remaining 188 members. As a result, many members have never been on the Security Council. The following list is a summary of all countries, currently 68 modern nations and three historical ones, that have never been a member of the United Nations Security Council. The three historical UN members listed are Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Chapter V of the United Nations Charter
Article 23 establishes the composition of the Security Council, with five permanent members (the Republic of China, ("currently" People's Republic of China), France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly. The non-permanent members serve two year terms and cannot be immediately re-elected. In the selection process for these non-permanent members, the treaty calls for "due regard being specially paid, in the first instance to the contribution of Members of the United Nations to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization, and also to equitable geographical distribution."