Within a short time of Baden-Powell's experimental camp at Brownsea Island in 1907 and the subsequent popularity of his book 'Scouting for Boys', Scout Organisations began to develop around the world. By 1909, Scouting was established in Australia, Canada, Chile, Guyana, India, Malta, New Zealand and Sierra Leone. When B,-P. visited the United States in 1910, he found Scouting already flourishing there.

The spread continued and one of the results of the first World Scout Jamboree at Olympia, London in 1920, was the creation of the Boy Scouts' International Conference. All 31 nations represented at Olympia were the Founder Members. A Bureau was established at 25, Buckingham Palace Road, London, and the then United Kingdom International Commissioner, Hubert S. Martin, was appointed as Honorary Director. The Boy Scouts' International Conference was later superseded by the World Scout Conference, which today has 131 national Scout Organisations in membership.

World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM)
The World Organisation of the Scout Movement is an international, non-governmental organisation which is composed of three principal parts: the Conference, Committee and Bureau.
Total membership of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement is now over 25 million in more than 210 countries and territories.
The countries with the largest membership are:

United States - 4.6 million
United Kingdom - 0.65 million
Philippines - 2.3 million
India - 2.2 million
Indonesia - 2.1 million

Today, Scouts are involved in Child Health, drug abuse prevention, clean water and sanitation, appropriate technology, low-cost housing, literacy, peace education, life skills training, children at risk, integration of the handicapped, family life education, children's rights, food production, agriculture, environmental conservation and education, renewable energies, reforestation, job skills training, youth unemployment, immigrant communities and education about development issues. These are taking place all the time, all over the world.