page_title: Commonwealth of Nations
section_title: Members
hierarchical_section_title: Commonwealth of Nations / Membership / Members
caption_attribution_description: The Commonwealth of Nations flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa.
context_page_description: The Commonwealth of Nations, generally known simply as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 54 member states, nearly all former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations between member states.
  The Commonwealth dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was originally created as the British Commonwealth of Nations through the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, and formalised by the United Kingdom through the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The current Commonwealth of Nations was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which modernised the community and established the member states as "free and equal".
context_section_description: The Commonwealth comprises 54 countries, across all continents. The members have a combined population of 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world population, of whom 1.37 billion live in India or 94% live in Asia and Africa combined. After India, the next-largest Commonwealth countries by population are Pakistan (220  million), Nigeria (170 million), Bangladesh (156 million), and the United Kingdom (65 million). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with about 10,000 people.
  The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 31,500,000 km² (12,200,000 sq mi), or about 21% of the total world land area. The three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 9,984,670 km² (3,855,100 sq mi), Australia at 7,617,930 km² (2,941,300 sq mi), and India at 3,287,263 km² (1,269,219 sq mi).
  The status of "Member in Arrears" is used to denote those that are in arrears in paying subscription dues. The status was originally known as "special membership", but was renamed on the Committee on Commonwealth Membership's recommendation. There are currently no Members in Arrears. The most recent Member in Arrears, Nauru, returned to full membership in June 2011. Nauru has alternated between special and full membership since joining the Commonwealth, depending on its financial situation.
caption: The Commonwealth flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa
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