UN Consolidated Sanctions List — Composition & Cadence
How old is the UN sanctions list — and why didn't it surge after 2022 like the US and EU lists?
As of the UN snapshot dated 2026-06-20, the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List held 1,002 active designations — 730 individuals (72.9%) and 272 entities (27.1%), across 14 sanctions committees. The headline is its age: 92.8% of the list (930 designations) predates 2020, and only 4.6% carries a listing date on or after 1 January 2022. Where the OFAC and EU lists are majority post-invasion, the UN list saw no such surge — it stays anchored to the counter-terror and non-proliferation committees that dominate it. These are aggregate counts; no party is named and no determination is made about anyone.
Key findings
active designations sit on the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List — 730 individuals (72.9%) and 272 entities (27.1%), spread across 14 sanctions committees. (UN snapshot 2026-06-20.)
of the list — 930 of 1,002 designations — was added before 1 January 2020. Where the OFAC and EU lists are majority post-2022, the UN list barely moved: only 7.2% of it dates to the 2020s.
of UN designations carry a listing date on or after 1 January 2022 — 46 records. The sibling Sanctions Universe study finds 58.5% of the active US + EU map is post-2022; the UN list saw no comparable surge.
of the whole list sits under four counter-terror and non-proliferation committees — Al-Qaida / ISIL, DPRK, Taliban, Iran hold 752 of 1,002 designations between them. The UN list is anchored to the War-on-Terror era.
designations were added in 2,001 — the single busiest year on the list (14.1% of it), the post-9/11 Al-Qaida tranche. 6 of the 14 committees have added nobody since before 2019; the Iraq committee's last addition was 2006-05-12 (20.1 years ago).
of designations carry at least one published alias (712 records, 2,730 aliases in total, up to 27 on a single record) — the name-matching surface that makes UN-list screening hard, since 290 records carry a single name only.
At a glance
When the list was built: a War-on-Terror-era register
The sibling Sanctions Universe study found that 58.5% of the active US + EU sanctions map was added since 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The UN list is the opposite: 4.6% of it is post-2022, and 92.8% predates 2020. The UN Security Council has no Russia/Ukraine regime — such measures are vetoed at the Council — so the surge that reshaped the unilateral lists has no parallel here. The busiest year on the UN list remains 2,001 (141 designations, the post-9/11 Al-Qaida tranche).
| Listing era | Designations | Share of list |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–2009 | 459 | 45.8% |
| 2010–2019 | 471 | 47% |
| 2020–present | 72 | 7.2% |
Composition by party type
How the list splits between people and organisations. Party types are mutually exclusive, so the two shares sum to 100%. Individuals dominate, which is what makes name-matching the central problem of UN-list screening.
| Party type | Designations | Share of list |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals | 730 | 72.9% |
| Entities | 272 | 27.1% |
By sanctions committee — and how dormant each one is
Each UN designation belongs to one sanctions committee (its regime). The list is heavily concentrated: the four largest committees hold 75% of it. The right-most columns show cadence — the most recent designation each committee added, and how long ago that was. 6 of the 14 committees have added nobody since before 2019.
| Committee | Designations | Share | Individuals | Entities | Last addition | Since last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Qaida / ISIL (Da'esh) | 336 | 33.5% | 248 | 88 | 2026-03-30 | 0.2 yr |
| DPRK (North Korea) | 155 | 15.5% | 80 | 75 | 2018-03-30 | 8.2 yr |
| Taliban | 140 | 14% | 135 | 5 | 2015-11-02 | 10.6 yr |
| Iran | 121 | 12.1% | 43 | 78 | 2012-12-20 | 13.5 yr |
| Iraq | 75 | 7.5% | 65 | 10 | 2006-05-12 | 20.1 yr |
| DR Congo | 53 | 5.3% | 44 | 9 | 2024-02-20 | 2.3 yr |
| Libya | 30 | 3% | 28 | 2 | 2021-10-25 | 4.7 yr |
| Somalia | 24 | 2.4% | 23 | 1 | 2024-05-21 | 2.1 yr |
| Central African Republic | 15 | 1.5% | 14 | 1 | 2021-12-21 | 4.5 yr |
| Sudan | 13 | 1.3% | 13 | 0 | 2026-04-28 | 0.1 yr |
| Yemen | 11 | 1.1% | 10 | 1 | 2022-10-04 | 3.7 yr |
| Haiti | 11 | 1.1% | 9 | 2 | 2025-10-17 | 0.7 yr |
| Guinea-Bissau | 10 | 1% | 10 | 0 | 2012-07-18 | 13.9 yr |
| South Sudan | 8 | 0.8% | 8 | 0 | 2018-07-13 | 7.9 yr |
Aliases: the name-matching surface
Because the UN list is mostly individuals and carries no universal contracting key, screening it means matching on names — and the published aliases are where that work lives. 71.1% of designations (712) carry at least one alias, 2,730 in total, up to 27 on a single record; the remaining 290 carry a single published name only. Alias density — transliterations, spelling variants, and former names — is exactly what a name-based screen has to contend with.
What this counts — and what it does not
- Active listings, not a historical total. Every count is the current published slice of the UN list (valid_to is null) on the 2026-06-20 snapshot. Delisted parties age off and are not counted, so this is a profile of the list as it stands, not of every designation ever made.
- Listing date as published.The era and year cuts use the UN's own “listed on” date for each record. A designation amended later still counts in the year it was first listed.
- One list only.This profiles the UN Consolidated List alone. It is not joined to the OFAC or EU lists, and no party here is matched to a party on any other list — the post-2022 comparison is between each list's own published composition, not a merged identity set.
- No party named. Every figure is an aggregate count by party type, committee, year, or alias coverage. This study names no sanctioned individual or entity and makes no determination about any of them.
Methodology
The study aggregates the current bitemporal slice of one source table in the fonteum-platform warehouse: public.un_sanctions_listings— the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List, parsed directly from the UN's published XML at scsanctions.un.org (snapshot 2026-06-20, taken from the list's own @dateGenerated attribute). The table is filtered to valid_to IS NULL and grouped four ways: by party_type (person versus entity), by committee (the sanctions regime), by the year of listed_on (the designation date), and by alias coverage from the aliases array. Every published figure is re-derivable from the SQL below, whose expected-result comments match the committed JSON snapshot exactly.
The UN feed refreshes daily and each snapshot is content-hashed and witness co-signed; the listing dates and committee labels are taken verbatim from the published list. Committee labels are shown with a readable expansion (for example “DPRK (North Korea)”); the authoritative value is the UN's own committee identifier. The post-2022 comparison figure (58.5% of the US + EU map) is from the sibling Sanctions Universe study, linked below.
Reproduce it
Re-derive every figure on this page from the published artifacts:
- Reproducible SQL — the exact GROUP BY queries, with expected-result comments.
- Download JSON · Download CSV — the committed composition snapshot.
Re-check the source snapshot
Every figure here traces to a signed source snapshot, not our word for it. Each daily UN pull is content-hashed and chained; you can re-hash the published bytes against the attestation yourself.
Re-check a snapshot → — re-hash any Fonteum snapshot and confirm the bytes match the chained attestation.
How to cite this
Fonteum (2026). The UN Consolidated Sanctions List, Profiled: Composition & Cadence. Derived from the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List (snapshot 2026-06-20). https://fonteum.com/gov/research/un-consolidated-sanctions-list-2026
Canonical URL: https://fonteum.com/gov/research/un-consolidated-sanctions-list-2026 · License: U.S. Government Works (public domain; 17 U.S.C. §105)
Act on the lists, and related evidence
- Sanctions & exclusion-list monitoring — screen a roster against the live lists →
- The US + EU Sanctions Universe — composition & growth →
- The Name-Only Exclusion List — 72% of federal exclusions carry no contracting ID →
- Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard — the US exclusion registry, ranked →
- Federal records questions, answered →
- Government records evidence — all studies →
Limitations
- This is a count of active designations on the date of the snapshot, not a historical time series of every UN designation ever made. Delisted parties are not in the current slice and are not counted.
- Era and year counts use the UN's published “listed on” date as-is; the most recent year is partial (year-to-date as of the snapshot) and still accruing.
- The post-2022 contrast with the OFAC and EU lists compares each list's own published composition. It is not a deduplicated, cross-list identity set, and no UN party is matched to a party on any other list.
- A designation count is an administrative fact about the published list on the date queried, not a judgment about any party. Confirm any specific party's current status at the official source.
Source
One primary source: the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List, published by the UN Security Council and parsed directly from the official XML at scsanctions.un.org. UN material is reproduced here in aggregate; the United Nations is not responsible for inaccuracies in reproduction, and the authoritative record is the official list.
Source: United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List, snapshot 2026-06-20. UN material (© United Nations). Confirm a party's current status at scsanctions.un.org. Confirm current status at SAM.gov →
Frequently asked questions
How many people and entities are on the UN sanctions list?
As of the snapshot dated 2026-06-20, the United Nations Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List held 1,002 active designations: 730 individuals (72.9%) and 272 entities (27.1%), spread across 14 sanctions committees. These are counts of active listings on the snapshot date, taken verbatim from the published UN list; no party is named.
How old is the UN Consolidated Sanctions List?
Most of it predates 2020. 930 of the 1,002 active designations (92.8%) carry a listing date before 1 January 2020, and 459 (45.8%) predate 2010. The median active designation is about 16 years old. Only 72 designations (7.2%) were added in the 2020s.
Did the UN sanctions list surge after Russia invaded Ukraine, like the US and EU lists?
No. Only 46 UN designations (4.6%) carry a listing date on or after 1 January 2022. The UN Security Council has no Russia/Ukraine sanctions regime — such measures are vetoed at the Council — so the surge that put the majority of the OFAC and EU lists into the post-2022 window (58.5%, per the sibling Sanctions Universe study) has no parallel on the UN list. The UN list is dominated instead by counter-terror and non-proliferation committees.
Which UN sanctions committee has the most designations?
The Al-Qaida / ISIL (Da'esh) committee is the largest at 336 designations (33.5% of the list), ahead of DPRK (155) and the Taliban (140). The four largest committees — Al-Qaida / ISIL, DPRK, Taliban, Iran — together hold 75% of the list. Several committees are effectively dormant: 6 of 14 have added no designation since before 2019, including Iraq (last addition 2006-05-12).
Does this study identify any sanctioned person or entity?
No. Every figure is an aggregate count — by party type, sanctions committee, designation year, and alias coverage. No sanctioned individual or entity is named anywhere on this page or in its downloads. To check whether a specific party is currently designated, search the official UN Consolidated List linked below; a designation status changes over time, so always confirm at the source.
How can I reproduce these numbers?
Every figure is re-derivable in Postgres from the published SQL (linked on this page) against public.un_sanctions_listings, filtered to its current bitemporal slice (valid_to IS NULL). The SQL is plain GROUP BY aggregation with expected-result comments that match the committed JSON snapshot exactly. The source snapshot is content-hashed and witness co-signed, and can be re-checked against its signed attestation.