ECOWAS has twelve members, three fewer than when it was founded
The Economic Community of West African States is a regional bloc that aims to bind its members into an economic union, starting with a common market that has free trade inside it and a common tariff on imports from outside. Fifteen states founded it by signing the Treaty of Lagos on 28 May 1975, and one more joined in 1977. Mauritania left in December 2000. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, all founders, left with effect from 29 January 2025, having formed their own Alliance of Sahel States. That left twelve, and the ECOWAS Commission still listed twelve on 7 October 2026. Mauritania signed an associate agreement in 2017, which is not membership.
Name them all first. Then try the harder part: the five English-speaking members, the five French-speaking members, then the two Portuguese-speaking members.