Paesi partecipanti nei decenni / Participating countries by decade

Map of countries in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia, with Australia as an insert in the top-right corner, coloured to indicate the decade in which they first participated in the contest: 1950s in red, 1960s in orange, 1970s in yellow, 1980s in green; 1990s in sky blue; 2000s in blue; and 2010s in purple
Participants in the Eurovision Song Contest, coloured by decade of debut

The table lists the participating countries in each decade since the first Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1956.

(en) Participating countries by decade. Seven countries participated in the first contest. Since then, the number of entries has increased steadily. In 1961, three countries debuted, Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia, joining the 13 already included. Yugoslavia would become the only socialist country to participate in the following three decades. In 1970, a Nordic-led boycott of the contest reduced the number of countries entering to 12. By the late 1980s, over 20 countries had become standard.

In 1993, the collapse of the USSR in Eastern Europe and the subsequent merger of EBU and OIRT gave numerous new countries the opportunity to compete. Three countries—Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of them former Yugoslav republics—went through a pre-qualifier round to compete. After the 1993 event, a relegation system was introduced, allowing more Eastern European countries to compete, with seven more making their debut in 1994.

In 2003, four countries applied to make their debut: Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria and Ukraine. In addition, Serbia and Montenegro, who had not competed since 1992, applied to return. The EBU, having originally accepted the five countries’ applications, later rejected all but Ukraine; allowing five further countries to compete would have meant relegating too many countries. The semi-final was introduced in 2004 in an attempt to prevent situations like this. The EBU set a limit of 40 countries, but by 2005, 39 were competing. In 2007, the EBU lifted the limit, allowing 42 countries to compete. Two semi-finals were held for the first time in 2008.

(it) Paesi partecipanti nei decenni. Sette furono i paesi che debuttarono nella prima edizione dell’Eurovision nel 1956. Da allora il numero dei partecipanti non ha fatto altro che aumentare; dagli anni ’80, per esempio, il numero standard è diventato di venti paesi nella manifestazione.

Dal 1992, prima con il collasso della Jugoslavia, e dal 1993, dopo quello dell’Unione Sovietica, nacquero molti altri paesi, che chiaramente ebbero la possibilità di debuttare (Bosnia ed Erzegovina, Croazia e Slovenia). Molti altri debuttarono nel 1994 (Estonia, Ungheria, Lituania, Polonia, Romania, Russia e Slovacchia).

Dagli anni 2000 si ebbe una vera e propria svolta per nuove culture; in questo decennio debuttarono, infatti, paesi come l’Azerbaigian, l’Armenia e la Georgia, che pur se al confine con l’Asia, riuscirono a guadagnarsi un posto nella competizione.

Il numero di paesi, tuttavia, divenne sempre più grande (quarantatré è il massimo raggiunto), che alla fine nel 2008, si dovette ricorrere all’inclusione di due semifinali per la prima volta (non più una sola semifinale come dal 2004); non tutti i paesi potevano più prendere parte alla serata finale: bisognava essere votati in semifinale per diventare un effettivo finalista.

Table key / Legenda
#
 Debutant / Debutto The country made its debut during the decade. Il Paese ha debuttato in quell’anno.
1
 Winner / Vincitore The country won the contest. Il Paese ha vinto l’Eurovision Song Contest in quell’anno.
2
 Second place / Secondo The country was ranked second. Il Paese è arrivato al secondo posto in quell’anno. 
3
 Third place / Terzo The country was ranked third. IPaese è arrivato al terzo posto in quell’anno. 
X
 Remaining places / Rimanenti The country placed from fourth to second last in the final. Il Paese si è classificato in una posizione tra il quarto e il penultimo posto.
◁
 Last place / Ultimo The country was ranked last in the final. Il Paese è arrivato ultimo in quell’anno.
W/D
 Withdrawn or disqualified / Non partecipante The country was to participate in the contest, but withdrew or was disqualified. Il Paese non ha partecipato o si è ritirato in quell’anno.
†
 Non-qualified for the final / Non qualificato alla finale The country did not qualify for the final (2004–present). Iil paese non accede alla finale (2004-).
‡
 Non-qualified for the contest / Non qualificato per l’Eurovision The country did not qualify from the pre-qualifying round (1993, 1996). Il paese non è salvo per il round di prequalificazione alla competizione (1993-1996).
?
 Unknown The country’s placing in the contest is unknown (1956).
R
 Relegated The country was relegated for the contest due to poor results in the previous years (1994–1995; 1997–2003).
C
 Cancelled The contest was cancelled after the deadline for submitting songs had passed (2020). La manifestazione è stata annullata (2020).
U
 Upcoming The country has confirmed participation for the next contest, however the contest has yet to take place. Il paese aveva confermato la propria partecipazione. 
No entry The country did not enter the contest.

1956–1959.

1960–1969[edit]

1970–1979[edit]

1980–1989[edit]

1990–1999[edit]

2000–2009[edit]

2010–2019[edit]

2020–2023[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The Flemish broadcaster VRT and Walloon broadcaster RTBF alternate responsibilities for the contest.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Until 2022 participated as the Czech Republic
  3. ^ Since 2008; previously represented by Eesti Televisioon (ETV) between 1993 and 2007
  4. ^ Since 1993; previously represented by Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF; 1956–1964), Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF; 1965–1974), TF1 (1975–1981) and Antenne 2 (1983–1992)
  5. ^ a b c d e Member of the “Big Five”
  6. ^ Responsibility for organising Germany’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest rests with one of ARD’s member broadcasters, and has changed hands over the years. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) has organised Germany’s entry since 1996.[13] See Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest § Organisation for full history of organising broadcasters.
  7. ^ Represented by the National Radio Television Foundation (EIRT) in 1974 and the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) in 2014 and 2015.
  8. ^ Since 2011; previous represented by Magyar Televízió between 1993 and 2010
  9. ^ Since 2018; previously represented by the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) between 1973 and 2017
  10. ^ Since 2014; previously represented by Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS; 1956–1969}, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS; 1970–2009) and Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (TROS; 2010–2013)
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Until 2018 participated as F.Y.R. Macedonia
  12. ^ RTR and C1R alternated responsibilities for the contest.
  13. ^ Since 2011; previously represented by Slovenská televízia (STV) between 1994 and 2010
  14. ^ Since 1980; previously represented by Sveriges Radio (SR) between 1958 and 1979
  15. ^ The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia competed as “Yugoslavia” in 1992.
  16. ^ Succeeded by Česká televize (ČT) of the Czech Republic and Slovenská televízia (STV) of Slovakia.
  17. ^ Each country was represented by two songs in the 1956 contest; Switzerland’s win in this contest was with one of their two songs.
  18. ^ Serbia and Montenegro kept their voting rights after they withdrew
  19. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. L’edizione 2020 è stata cancellata a causa della Pandemia di COVID-19; al suo posto l’UER ha annunciato uno show alternativo, l’Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light. Il sessantacinquesimo Eurovision Song Contest è stato disputato nel 2021.