The United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an organization of nations that works for world peace. It also tries to make the lives of people around the world better and safer. If fighting starts between two or more countries, the UN may try to stop it. After the fighting stops, the UN may help work out ways to keep it from starting again. Most of all, the UN tries to take care of problems before they lead to fighting and war. The UN also works with other organizations that deal with such worldwide issues as communications, farming, health, and living and working conditions.

Almost all of the world's independent countries belong to the United Nations. They are called member nations. The UN has 192 member nations. Each member nation sends a person to UN headquarters in New York City to represent it. At the headquarters, these people hold meetings to talk about problems around the world and try to solve them.

The United Nations has been successful in preventing some wars and in helping many people. But it has also had some problems. The member nations do not always agree with each other. Some member nations, including the United States, do not pay their fair share of the money the UN needs to do its work.

The United Nations was established on October 24, 1945, soon after the end of World War II. That war lasted from 1939 to 1945 and involved about 60 nations around the world. Millions of people died in the war. Many of the countries that fought in World War II decided that such a war must never happen again, and so they started the UN.

"United Nations (UN)." World Book Kids World Book, 2010. Web. 6 June 2010




Use the article to answer the following questions:

1) What is the United Nations?

2) Why is it important?

3) Who belongs to the United Nations? What are they called?

4) What happens at the UN Headquarters?

5) What has the United Nations been successful at?

6) What are some of the problems?

7) How many years did World War II last?

8) What happened after the war was over?