WHL was founded in 1984 with seven national organizations. In 2010 the WHL includes 72 regular member organizations, 18 associate member organization and 3 supporting corporate members, for a total of 93 WHL member organizations.

Only one full (Regular) membership is allocated to a given country; however, an Associate membership is possible for other leagues or societies within the given country.

After an organization requests membership into the WHL, and if the applicant is dedicated to the goals of the World Hypertension League and represents the hypertension community in their area, they are asked to fill out an application form and return it, along with any other pertinent information regarding their League, to:

Dr. Arun Chockalingam
Secretary General
Blusson Hall - 11016
Faculty of Health Sciences
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC
V5A 1S6
Canada
Tel: +1-778-782-6952
Fax: +1-778-782-5927
Email: whlsec@sfu.ca

The Executive Board of the World Hypertension League will then review the organization's application from this data, and make recommendations at the next scheduled Board meeting, which are held on a regular basis.