Who is part of the commonwealth

And most of them are under the age of The biggest country by population is India, which accounts for about half of the total. But 31 Commonwealth members have a population of 1.

Rwanda and Mozambique became members in and respectively, and neither has a British colonial past or constitutional link. The club has lost members in the past. Robert Mugabe took Zimbabwe out in after its membership was suspended amid reports of election rigging. Pakistan was suspended after a military coup in and was re-admitted four-and-a-half years later. And South Africa withdrew in after it was criticised by Commonwealth members for its apartheid policies.

It became a member again in The Commonwealth makes up a quarter of the world's land mass. The giant of the group is Canada, the world's second largest country. India and Australia are huge too. The modern Commonwealth was formed in , after "British" was dropped from the name and allegiance to the Crown was removed from its statute. But it's not a hereditary role, although the Prince of Wales is widely expected to take it up when he becomes king.

The Commonwealth Secretariat in London manages the work of the Commonwealth and is the central point for all member governments. The Secretariat can provide governments with policy advice and practical assistance. It also works to find solutions to sensitive political and economic issues faced by members. She took up this role in April New Zealand hosted the meeting in The Commonwealth Foundation is a development organisation of the Commonwealth that aims to build the capacity of civil society across member states.

New Zealand is a founding member of the Commonwealth and we're actively involved in many of its activities. We've hosted many Commonwealth meetings and consultations. We're currently one of the nine members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group CMAG , which was established at a meeting in Queenstown in to discuss and decide ways to deal with members that violate the Commonwealth values as set out in the Harare Declaration external link.

Since , New Zealanders have participated in many Commonwealth missions to observe elections in member countries. This includes voluntary contributions to a number of Commonwealth organisations including:. Find out more about New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarships external link. The Balfour Declaration brought to light the consensus that all British Empire countries were on par with the United Kingdom , which had not been the case beforehand.

The U. Five years later, the United Kingdom officially upheld the formation of the Commonwealth by signing a document called the Statute of Westminster. There were so many additions, alterations, and revisions to the Commonwealth of Nations until At this point, the London Declaration was compiled and written by an Indian official by the name of VK Krishna Menon, and the member nations signed it in the same year.

Fifty-three countries are recognized as part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Interestingly enough, most, though not all, of the countries in the British Commonwealth happen to be British colonies. If they are not currently under British rule, these locations were at one time. Dependent or not upon Britain's government, the Commonwealth of Nations' member states all have a historical tie to Britain.

As mentioned, the Commonwealth of Nations is an organization made up of fifty-three countries around the world. Most of these countries used to be territories of the British Empire.