The original World Federation of Chiropractic was established at the World Chiropractic Congress in Sydney, Australia in 1988.

The members of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) are 90 national associations of chiropractors in 89 nations. The WFC represents them and the chiropractic profession in the international community. Its goals, found in section 6 of the original Articles, include:

Acting with national and international organizations to provide information and other assistance in the fields of chiropractic and world health;

Promoting uniform high standards of chiropractic education, research and practice;

Developing an informed public opinion among all peoples with respect to chiropractic; and

Advancing the chiropractic profession and protecting the character and status of the profession.

Organizational Structure

Bylaws

The bylaws of the WFC can be viewed in their entirety here.

Assembly

Authority for all policy and other major decisions is vested in WFC Constituent Member national associations meeting in Assembly, convened annually.

Board of Directors

The affairs of the WFC are directed by a Board of Directors elected or appointed for a term of three years from seven world regions - Africa, Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Pacific. The Board meets either electronically or in person four times annually.

Executive Committee

Daily operations are managed by an Executive Committee consisting of three members elected by the Board, and the Secretary-General, who manages secretariat at its permanent office located in Toronto, Canada. The Executive Committee meets regularly by teleconference and in person as required.

Congress

Held every two years, the WFC Congress, is preceded by an Assembly (business meeting of members). The Congress comprises academic sessions and the chiropractic profession's leading scientific meeting. Invited papers and research abstracts of the Congress are available in written proceedings and/or electronic versions. Award-winning original research papers are published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) and other academic journals.

Past Congresses have been in Toronto (1991), London (1993), Washington DC (1995), Tokyo (1997), Auckland (1999), Paris (2001), Orlando, Florida (2003), Sydney, Australia (2005), Vilamoura,  Portugal (2007), Montreal, Canada (2009), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2011), Durban, South Africa (2013), Athens, Greece (2015), Washington, DC (2017), Berlin, Germany (2019) and Virtual Event (2021).   

Full Membership

Full and voting members of the WFC are national associations of chiropractors. View contact information on each association or country here.

Please view or download a National Association Membership Application Form.

Affiliations

The WFC is in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a non-state actor. It is a founding member of the World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA) and a member of the Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS). It also has affiliations with many other national and international organizations.