Members of Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 53 sovereign states. Nearly all of them are former British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.

No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a political union. Rather, the Commonwealth is an international organization in which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status, and cooperate within a framework of common values and goals, as outlined in the Singapore Declaration issued in 1971. Such common values and goals include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality before the law, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace, which are promoted through multilateral projects and meetings, such as the Commonwealth Games, held once every four years.

The symbol of this free association is Queen Elizabeth II, who serves as the Head of the Commonwealth. This position, however, does not imbue her with any political or executive power over any Commonwealth member states; the position is purely symbolic, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the chief executive of the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1926 when the Balfour Declaration of the Imperial Conference recognized the full sovereignty of dominions. Known as the "British Commonwealth", the original members were the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Irish Free State, and Newfoundland. It was re-stated by the 1930 conference and incorporated in the Statute of Westminster the following year although Australia and New Zealand did not adopt the statute until 1942 and 1947 respectively. In 1949, the London Declaration was signed and marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth and the adoption of its present name. The newest member is Rwanda, which joined on 29 November 2009. The most recent departure was the Maldives, which severed its connection with the Commonwealth on 13 October 2016.

As of September 2019, of the 53 sovereign states that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, two are in Europe, twelve in North, Central America and the Caribbean, one in South America, nineteen in Africa, eight in Asia, and eleven in Oceania. There are seven former members, four of which no longer exist as independent entities (but form part of current member states). The members have a combined population of 2.4 billion, almost a third of the world population, of whom 1.21 billion live in India, and 95% live in Asia and Africa combined.

Currently, sixteen of the 53 member states are Commonwealth realms, with the Head of the Commonwealth as their heads of state, five others are monarchies with their own individual monarchs (Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia and Tonga), and the rest are republics. The Republic of Ireland (from 1949 according to the Commonwealth; 1936 according to Irish government), Zimbabwe (2003), and the Maldives (2016) are former members of the Commonwealth. South Africa, Pakistan and The Gambia left and later rejoined the Commonwealth, and both Zimbabwe and the Maldives have formally applied to rejoin.

Current members
All dates below are provided by the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat members list, and population figures are as of 1 January 2018.

A. Unless otherwise noted, independence was gained from the United Kingdom on the date (shown in column 2) of joining the Commonwealth.

B. Not a member of the Commonwealth Foundation.

C. Though Pakistan celebrates 14 August 1947 as its independence day, independence was officially granted at midnight, 15 August 1947. Therefore, its date of joining the Commonwealth would be 15 August 1947.

D. Commonwealth realms, recognising Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state since the day of their independence, distinctly from her being the sovereign of the United Kingdom.

E. Geopolitically part of Europe, but geographically part of Asia.

Prospective members
F. The population figure is based on 2014 estimates.

Other candidates
Other states which have expressed an interest in joining the Commonwealth over the years or states which may be eligible to join the Commonwealth include Algeria, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Libya, Madagascar, Nepal, Palestine, United States and Yemen.

Some countries and regions could also join the Commonwealth on the basis of being part of the British Empire including: Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Myanmar, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, or even former British protectorates such as: Afghanistan, Bhutan and Tibet. In addition, Ambazonia (Anglophone portions of Cameroon which previously comprised Southern Cameroons) could also be eligible for the membership.