The UNSC has 15 members — five permanent members and 10 non-permanent ones elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.
No other country has as strong a claim to become the sixth permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) than India, American economist Jeffrey Sachs has said.
The Columbia University professor called on China to support New Delhi’s bid and said India’s population, economy, global influence and diplomatic role strengthened its case.
“Think of all countries in the world, there is no country other than India that has such a strong claim as the sixth permanent member of the UN Security Council,” Sachs said in an interview with news agency PTI.
He made the remarks amid the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, where the grouping’s leaders backed India and Brazil’s aspirations to play a “greater role” in the United Nations, including its Security Council.
Sachs pointed to India’s population and its position as the world’s most populous country. “India’s 1.5 billion people. It’s the most populous nation. It’s a superpower. It’s the world’s third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. It is a rapidly growing economy,” he said.
Sachs also cited the recently concluded BRICS summit in Delhi and India’s presidency of the G20. “It’s extremely deft at diplomacy, as we just saw in the BRICS summit, and as we saw when India chaired the G20 as well,” he said. “So to my mind, to build that multilateralism, India absolutely should be a member of the UN Security Council,” Sachs said.
VIDEO | New York, USA: Renowned US economist Jeffrey Sachs makes case for New Delhi’s Permanent UNSC Seat and says, “India has the strongest claim, should absolutely be a member of security council.”
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) https://t.co/fbAEh0p3Nb
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 13, 2026
‘India, China should work together’
Sachs also called on India and China to work together to overcome their differences and said Beijing should support New Delhi’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.
“I always urge India and China to work closely together on everything to overcome divisions, and for China to support India as the sixth permanent member of the UN Security Council,” he said.
“Because I think that that would say not only to the United States, but to everybody, look, we big countries take responsibility for multilateralism. We work together. We reject hegemony by the US or by the West,” Sachs said.
BRICS backs India’s UNSC aspirations
Sachs’ remarks came days after BRICS leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration at the grouping’s 18th summit in the Indian capital.
The declaration said China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, “reiterate their support to the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a greater role in the UN, including its Security Council”.