Geneva is home to the headquarters of 34 international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation, the World Trade Organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In all, some 29,500 international diplomats and civil servants are based in the city, of whom around 2,300 staff are working for 250 non-governmental organisations. Around 9,500 staff work for the United Nations family in Geneva, which is the largest concentration of UN personnel in the world. Above all, there are 174 states represented by permanent diplomatic missions to the UN, which gave it the "International Geneva" nickname.

Annually, Geneva is host to the largest number of international conferences and meetings (around 10,000) – 2,700 ahead of New York, welcoming 200,000 people. In addition, there are 3,000 professional and private visits by heads of state, government and ministers.