Global InformationMember states of the Commonwealth of Nations information
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.
No 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.[1] Such common values and goals include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, civil liberties, 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.[2]
The symbol of this free association is King Charles III, who serves as the Head of the Commonwealth. This position, however, does not imbue him 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.[3]
The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1926 when the Balfour Declaration of the Imperial Conference recognised the full sovereignty of dominions. Known as the "British Commonwealth", the original and therefore earliest members were Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. 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).[4] In 1949, the London Declaration marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth and the adoption of its present name.[5] The members have a combined population of 2.4 billion, almost a third of the world's population, of whom 1.21 billion live in India, and 95% live in Africa and Asia combined.[6] The most recent members to join were the Francophone African nations of Gabon and Togo on 29 June 2022, who along with Mozambique and Rwanda are unique in not having a historical constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom or other Commonwealth states.
Currently, fifteen of the 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 (as of 1949 according to the Commonwealth; 1936 according to the Irish government) and Zimbabwe (2003) are former members of the Commonwealth.
- ^ "FAQs". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- ^ "Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles 1971". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
- ^ "Head of the Commonwealth". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 30 September 2006. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- ^ "The Commonwealth–History–Dominion Status". Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- ^ "The Commonwealth–History–Modern Commonwealth". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- ^ "Country Comparisons – Population". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2009.