The Yearbook of International Organizations, although originally covering only international organizations in the traditional sense, has broadened its scope in order to reflect international activity in a much more general manner.
The UIA has a mandate from the United Nations to produce the Yearbook, which includes all non-profit international organizations known to us, in particular those which are officially recognized by the United Nations or one of its specialized agencies. It therefore includes national organizations which have been granted consultative status by one of the United Nations agencies or included on the UN Department of Information (DPI) List, coding them as 'internationally-oriented national' bodies.
The organizations the UIA has on record range from major intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, through scholarly and scientific bodies, to the more subordinate, diffuse or peripheral. Special effort is made to include international activities which, although not organizations, have clearly recognized titles and behaviour, and which are of considerable interest and importance to Yearbook users. These may include free trade zones, projects, programmes, intergovernmental groupings with no fixed secretariat or treaty, etc.