History of the G8
The G8 originates from the Library Group, a group of financial officials formed in 1973. In the early 1970s, the onset of the worldwide economic recession and oil crisis encouraged the US to create the Library Group. This was originally made up of financial officials from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In 1975, the Library Group began to incorporate government heads, who met annually to discuss economic issues. The Library Group evolved into the G6, named after the number of government heads attending its meetings. The addition of Canada to the group in 1976 brought about the group’s renaming as the G7. In 1998, Russia joined the assembly, resulting in its present name – the G8.
