CRC ratifications — chronological order

The official listing of ratifications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is arranged in alphabetical order:
http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en
 

The following chart shows the ratifications in date order. All through 2010 and 2011 Wikipedia's article about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child incorrectly gave the number of ratifications as 194, citing the official list which states quite clearly at the top that the number of parties to the treaty is 193. On this page, below the chart,
is a table listing the first day signatures (skip to the list).

The most recent country to join the United Nations, the Republic of South Sudan, has not yet signed the CRC
(read more about children's rights in South Sudan).

Note: "a" next to a date indicates "Accession" – the same as ratification without the initial act of signing the treaty.

Which countries signed on the first day?

Although the CRC was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, the document didn't become available for signature until 26th January 1990. When a State Party signs a treaty it is indicating approval "in principle," but there is no commitment to incorporate the provisions into its own national laws. That is achieved by Ratification or an equivalent procedure. A United Nations publication, the International Geneva Yearbook 1999-2000, incorrectly stated that there were 61 signatures on the first day instead of the actual number: 59 signatures. This error has subsequently been reproduced in other publications because none of the authors took the trouble to check the count in the official list of signatures & ratifications (the link at the top of this page).

Within one year of 26/01/1990 the Convention had been ratified by 67 member states, and 105 within two years.

List of member states signing the first day — 26/01/1990
1	Albania	21	Greece	41	Norway
2	Algeria	22	Guatemala	42	Panama
3	Bangladesh	23	Guinea-Bissau	43	Peru
4	Belarus	24	Haiti	44	Philippines
5	Belgium	25	Iceland	45	Poland
6	Brazil	26	Indonesia	46	Portugal
7	Burkina Faso	27	Italy	47	Romania
8	Chile	28	Jamaica	48	Russia
9	Colombia	29	Kenya	49	Rwanda
10	Costa Rica	30	Lebanon	50	Saint Kitts
11	Cote d'Ivoire	31	Mali	51	Senegal
12	Cuba	32	Malta	52	Spain
13	Denmark	33	Mauritania	53	Sri Lanka
14	Dominica	34	Mexico	54	Suriname
15	Ecuador	35	Mongolia	55	Sweden
16	El Salvador	36	Morocco	56	Togo
17	Finland	37	Nepal	57	Uruguay
18	France	38	Netherlands	58	Venezuela
19	Gabon	39	Niger	59	Viet Nam
20	Germany	40	Nigeria

Ghana signed on 29th January 1990 and became the first country to ratify the treaty on 5th February 1990.