A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their athletes' participation in the Olympic Games. They may nominate cities within their respective areas as candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote the development of athletes and the training of coaches and officials at the national level within their national territories.

As of 2023, there are 206 National Olympic Committees. These include each of the 193 member states of the United Nations, one UN General Assembly observer state (Palestine), two states without UN recognition (Kosovo and Taiwan) and one associated state of New Zealand (the Cook Islands).

There are also nine dependent territories with recognized NOCs: four territories of the United States (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands), three British Overseas Territories (Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands), one constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba) and one special administrative region of China (Hong Kong).

Prior to 1996, rules for recognizing dependent territories or constituent countries as separate countries within the IOC were not as strict as those within the United Nations, which allowed these territories to field teams separately from their sovereign state. Following an amendment to the Olympic Charter in 1996, NOC recognition can only be granted after recognition as an independent country by the international community. Since the rule does not apply retroactively, the dependent territories and constituent countries which were recognized before the rule change are allowed to continue sending separate teams to the Olympics, while the Faroe Islands and Macau send their own Paralympic teams.

The only state which thus qualifies to participate in the future is the Vatican City, a UN General Assembly observer state. Niue, an associated state of New Zealand, could also be eligible as it conducts its own foreign relations and participates independently in UN specialized agencies and treaties, though this is unclear. Currently, all other remaining states are ineligible to join the IOC as they are not recognized by a majority of United Nations member countries. Constituent countries and dependent territories such as Curaçao, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Macau, New Caledonia and French Polynesia can also no longer be recognized, so athletes from these territories can only participate in the Olympics as part of their parent nation's national team. This rule also applies to territories experiencing a change in status – the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee was dissolved at the 123rd IOC session in July 2011 as the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist in 2010.

For those countries and territories that are part of the Commonwealth of Nations, their National Olympic Committees usually also serve as the members of the Commonwealth Games Association, though not for the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), nor for Canada or Australia, who maintain separate organisations for Commonwealth and Olympic sport. For the other Commonwealth members, their NOCs are responsible for organising and overseeing their national teams at the Commonwealth Games.

This section lists the current:

The ANOC members are eligible to enter the Olympic Games. Some National Olympic Committees who are members of a continental Olympic association but not ANOC members compete in continental-level and subregional-level tournaments. These committees, however, are not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games.