section_path: Membership
section_name: Membership
paragraph_text: Membership
  
  The 32 NATO members are:
  
  NATO has thirty-two members, mostly in Europe with two in North America. Some of these countries also have territory on other continents, which is covered by the security agreements only as far south as the Tropic of Cancer, which together with the Atlantic Ocean defines NATO's "area of responsibility" under Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty. During the original treaty negotiations, the United States insisted that colonies such as the Belgian Congo be excluded from the treaty. French Algeria was, however, covered until its independence on 3 July 1962. Twelve of these thirty-two are original members who joined in 1949, while the other twenty joined in one of ten enlargement rounds.