|
RI Board adopts
Zone Realignment
In June 2008, the
RI Board of Directors adopted a realignment of zone boundaries
designed to ensure fairness in the selection of RI directors from
Rotary's 34 zones.
Because RI
directors are nominated from zones, the RI Bylaws require having
approximately the same number of Rotarians per zone. Accordingly,
the Board must conduct a comprehensive review of zones at least
every eight years.
Membership
demographics have changed significantly since zone boundaries were
last adjusted in 1995.
For example,
Rotary club membership in Austria,
Belarus, Czechoslovakia,
Germany,
Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia increased 48 percent
between 1996 and 2006. At the same time,
Japan
saw membership decline roughly 25 percent, while most regions of the United States
had a slight decline.
In 2002, the Board
began discussing the zone structure and appointed committees of
current and past RI directors and past RI presidents to study the
issue and make recommendations.
The Board
presented a proposal to the 2007 Council on Legislation that would
have added an additional director and maintained the current zone
boundaries. The Council rejected this proposal and instead referred
a resolution to the Board requesting it to realign the zones. In
June 2008, the Board closed the comment period on proposed changes
and voted to adopt the zone realignment.
The zone
realignment takes effect 1 July 2009 and will be used to select
members of director nominating committees in 2008-09.
Governors-elect in
2008-09 will attend governors-elect training seminars (GETS) based
on the old zones structure. In 2009-10, governors-elect will attend
GETS according to the new structure.
Zone population comparison chart
30 December 1996 vs. 30 December 2006
|
Zone
|
|
Districts 1996
|
Rotarians 1996
|
Districts 2006
|
Rotarians 2006
|
Population change
|
Percent change
|
|
1
|
Japan
|
12
|
36,673
|
12
|
26,710
|
(9,963)
|
-27%
|
|
2
|
North
Central Japan,
Micronesia
|
9
|
35,663
|
9
|
27,619
|
(8,044)
|
-23%
|
|
3
|
South Central Japan
|
7
|
36,215
|
7
|
27,713
|
(8,502)
|
-23%
|
|
4
|
Southern Japan, Hong Kong,
Macau, Taiwan
|
11
|
37,459
|
14
|
36,642
|
(817)
|
-2%
|
|
5
|
Northern India, Pakistan, Nepal
|
18
|
42,729
|
17
|
55,440
|
12,711
|
30%
|
|
6
|
Southern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia
|
20
|
40,605
|
21
|
56,452
|
15,847
|
39%
|
|
7
|
N.&W.
Australia, Papua New Guinea,
Philippines
|
21
|
37,360
|
22
|
35,033
|
(2,327)
|
-6%
|
|
8
|
Southeast Australia, New
Zealand, & Islands
|
17
|
32,497
|
17
|
28,820
|
(3,677)
|
-11%
|
|
9
|
Korea
|
17
|
40,521
|
17
|
50,981
|
10,460
|
26%
|
|
10
|
Africa, ME, Greece, Turkey, Spain,
Portugal, Bulgaria
|
25
|
37,675
|
25
|
45,869
|
8,194
|
22%
|
|
11
|
France,
Monaco,
Andorra
|
17
|
34,425
|
18
|
33,540
|
(885)
|
-3%
|
|
12
|
Italy,
Malta,
San Marino,Serbia, Albania,
Croatia, Slovenia
|
11
|
33,394
|
10
|
42,177
|
8,783
|
26%
|
|
13
|
Benelux,
Liechtenstein,
Switzerland
|
13
|
35,888
|
13
|
41,364
|
5,476
|
15%
|
|
14
|
Germany,
Aust.,
Belarus,
Czech,
Hungary, Israel, Romania,
Slovakia.
|
19
|
40,222
|
19
|
59,556
|
19,334
|
48%
|
|
15
|
N.&E.
Sweden, Finland, Russia, Baltic States
|
16
|
35,794
|
15
|
36,071
|
277
|
1%
|
|
16
|
Southwest Sweden, Poland, Norway, Denmark,
Iceland
|
16
|
33,947
|
16
|
37,054
|
3,107
|
9%
|
|
17
|
N.&NW.
England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
|
14
|
31,624
|
14
|
28,098
|
(3,526)
|
-11%
|
|
18
|
Southwest England, & West
Country
|
15
|
31,550
|
15
|
28,157
|
(3,393)
|
-11%
|
|
19
|
Argentina,
Chile, Southern Brazil,
Paraguay
|
32
|
35,964
|
33
|
33,296
|
(2,668)
|
-7%
|
|
20
|
Northern Brazil
|
25
|
38,891
|
25
|
33,815
|
(5,076)
|
-13%
|
|
21
|
Rest
of Latin America incl. Caribbean,
Guyana,
Suriname
|
27
|
30,613
|
24
|
26,383
|
(4,230)
|
-14%
|
|
22
|
Canada & USA:
Alaska
|
22
|
31,366
|
23
|
30,418
|
(948)
|
-3%
|
|
23
|
USA:
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada,
California
|
12
|
33,629
|
12
|
33,568
|
(61)
|
0%
|
|
24
|
USA:
Hawaii, C.&S. California,
Nevada
|
11
|
30,586
|
11
|
29,865
|
(721)
|
-2%
|
|
25
|
USA:
Mont., Wyo., Utah, Colo., Ariz.,
N.Mex., N.&S.Dak., etc.
|
15
|
33,549
|
15
|
33,132
|
(417)
|
-1%
|
|
26
|
USA:
Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Texas
|
12
|
32,984
|
12
|
29,948
|
(3,036)
|
-9%
|
|
27
|
USA:
Iowa, Wisc., Mich., Illin.,Minn., Nebr.
|
11
|
34,936
|
11
|
32,597
|
(2,339)
|
-7%
|
|
28
|
USA:
Mich., Ind., Ohio, Pennsylvania,
New York
|
14
|
33,426
|
14
|
29,470
|
(3,956)
|
-12%
|
|
29
|
USA:
Ark.,MO,Kansas, Okla., Illin.,
Louisiana, Miss.
|
14
|
34,509
|
13
|
33,664
|
(845)
|
-2%
|
|
30
|
USA:
Kentucky, Ala.,Tenn., Miss., Ind., Ohio
|
11
|
35,666
|
11
|
34,085
|
(1,581)
|
-4%
|
|
31
|
USA:
Maine, N. Hamp., Verm.,Mass.,
Conn., RI,
NY
|
15
|
32,553
|
15
|
27,674
|
(4,879)
|
-15%
|
|
32
|
USA: NJ,
Delaware, Maryland, Penn., NY, Bermuda
|
17
|
32,223
|
17
|
27,872
|
(4,351)
|
-14%
|
|
33
|
USA:
Virginia, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, W. Virginia,
Tenn.
|
13
|
35,480
|
13
|
34,289
|
(1,191)
|
-3%
|
|
34
|
USA:
Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico
|
12
|
33,065
|
14
|
37,148
|
4,083
|
12%
|
|
|
Total*
|
|
521
|
|
530
|
|
10,839
|
|
|
|
Average number of Rotarians per zone
|
35,108
|
|
35,427
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Number of
districts excludes duplication for 17 districts that are split
between two or more zones.
|