Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations is a group of 54 countries, most of which used to be apart of the British Empire. It is an international organisation that has King Charles III as its head.

 Current member states 
All dates below are provided by the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat members list, and population figures are as of 1 February 2020.

CountryFirst JoinedRegionPopulation System of government Notes  1981-11-011 November 1981West Indies94,195 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1931-12-1119 November 1926Continent of Australia 
(Australasia)25,215,000 Federal Commonwealth realm Australia was one of the original Dominions at the time of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931, evenvthough the statute was not done in Australia until 1942. The Australia Act 1986 ended any chance of the UK to be involved in Australian government.  1973-07-1010 July 1973West Indies402,576 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1972-04-1818 April 1972South Asia165,867,307 Unitary Westminster republic Became independent from Pakistan in 1971.  1966-11-3030 November 1966West Indies286,618 Unitary Commonwealth realm Barbados is planning to get rid of Elizabeth II as its head of state and become a republic by 30 November 2021.   1981-09-2121 September 1981Central America379,636 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1966-09-3030 September 1966Southern Africa2,377,831 Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency  1984-01-011 January 1984Southeast Asia439,022 Unitary Islamic absolute monarchy   1995-11-1313 November 1995Central Africa24,836,674 Unitary semi-presidential republic Most of the country was a French mandate territory (later UN trust territory) of Cameroun, which got independence from France on 1 January 1960. It united with the much smaller British mandate/trust territory of Southern Cameroons, which got independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1961.  1931-12-1119 November 1926Northern America37,653,350 Federal Commonwealth realm Canada was the first of the original Dominions at the time of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931. It took another original Dominion, Newfoundland, on 31 March 1949. The Canada Act 1982 ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada, where the British parliament could make laws that affected Canada.  1961-03-1313 March 1961Eurasia1,197,667 Unitary presidential republic Got independence from the United Kingdom on 16 August 1960.  1978-11-033 November 1978West Indies72,975 Unitary Westminster republic  1968-09-066 September 1968Southern Africa 1,336,933 Unitary absolute monarchy Joined as Swaziland, changed its name to Eswatini on 19 April 2018. 1970-10-1010 October 1970Oceania (Melanesia)909,024 Unitary Westminster republic Left in 1987; rejoined in 1997; suspended on 6 June 2000; suspension lifted on 20 December 2001; again suspended on 8 December 2006 because of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état.Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth . Commonwealth Secretariat, 1 September 2009; retrieved 11 April 2011. Suspension lifted on 26 September 2014.  1965-02-1818 February 1965West Africa 2,155,958 Unitary presidential republic Left on 3 October 2013 saying that it was "neocolonialism". After the election of Adama Barrow as President of Gambia in 2016, it asked to join the Commonwealth again on 22 January 2018, and was allowed to join again on 8 February 2018.  1957-03-066 March 1957West Africa 29,088,849 Unitary presidential republic  1974-02-077 February 1974West Indies 107,894 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1966-05-2626 May 1966South America 773,808 Unitary presidential republic   1947-08-1515 August 1947South Asia 1,353,014,094 Federal democratic Republic  1962-08-066 August 1962West Indies 2,819,888 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1963-12-1212 December 1963East Africa 49,167,382 Unitary presidential republic  1979-07-1212 July 1979Oceania (Micronesia) 117,636 Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency  1966-10-044 October 1966Southern Africa 2,199,492 Unitary Westminster monarchy  1964-07-066 July 1964East Africa 18,558,768 Unitary presidential republic  1957-08-3131 August 1957Southeast Asia 31,505,208 Federal Westminster monarchy Joined as the Federation of Malaya in 1957; became as Malaysia on 16 September 1963 when it joined with Singapore (which became a separate country on 9 August 1965), North Borneo, and Sarawak.  1982-07-099 July 1982South Asia 515,696 Unitary presidential republic Got independence from the United Kingdom on 26 July 1965. A special member from 9 July 1982 until 20 July 1985. Left on 13 October 2016."Maldives quits Commonwealth over alleged rights abuses". The Guardian. 13 October 2016. Joined again on 1 February 2020.  1964-09-2121 September 1964Southern Europe 422,212 Unitary Westminster republic Got independence from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1964.  1968-03-1212 March 1968East Africa 1,286,240 Unitary Westminster republic  1995-11-1313 November 1995East Africa 29,977,238 Unitary semi-presidential republic Got independence from Portugal on 25 June 1975. The first country to join the Commonwealth that wasn't once ruled by the United Kingdom.  1990-03-2121 March 1990Southern Africa 2,600,857 Unitary semi-presidential republic Got independence from South Africa.Chronology of Namibian Independence Includes Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands given by South Africa at midnight 28 February 1994.  1968-11-01†1 November 1968Oceania (Micronesia) 10,387 Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency Got independence on 31 January 1968 from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A special member from 1 November 1968 until 1 May 1999, when it became a full member, before going back to special status in January 2006. A full member again since June 2011.  1931-12-1119 November 1926Oceania (Polynesia) 4,609,755 Unitary Commonwealth realm Given Dominion status on 26 September 1907. One of the original Dominions at the time of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931, even though the Statute was not adopted in New Zealand until 1947. Got rid of final links with the British Parliament in 1986. Got rid of the final link with the British legal system (Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) in 2003.  1960-10-011 October 1960West Africa 194,615,054 Federal presidential republic Incorporated the former British mandate/trust territory of Northern Cameroons on 31 May 1961. Suspended in 1995, suspension lifted in 1999.  1947-08-1414 August 1947South Asia 224,019,136 Federal Westminster republic Includes the city of Gwadar, transferred from Muscat and Oman on 8 September 1958. Included Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) until 1971. Left Commonwealth in 1972, rejoined 1989; suspended in 1999, suspension lifted in 2004; again suspended in 2007, suspension lifted in 2008.  1975-09-1616 September 1975Oceania (Melanesia) 8,034,630 Unitary Commonwealth realm Gained independence from Australia.  2009-11-2929 November 2009East Africa 12,322,920 Unitary presidential republic Gained independence from Belgium on 1 July 1962. The second country (after Mozambique) to be admitted to the Commonwealth without any former colonial or constitutional links with the United Kingdom.  1983-09-1919 September 1983West Indies 56,632 Federal Commonwealth realm  1979-02-2222 February 1979West Indies 189,000 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1979-10-2727 October 1979West Indies 109,501 Unitary Commonwealth realm A special member from 27 October 1979 until 1 June 1985.  1970-08-2828 August 1970Oceania (Polynesia) 196,954 Unitary Westminster republic Gained independence from New Zealand on 1 January 1962. Joined as Western Samoa, subsequently changing its name to Samoa on 4 July 1997.  1976-06-2929 June 1976East Africa 98,248 Unitary presidential republic  1961-04-2727 April 1961West Africa 6,818,117 Unitary presidential republic  1965-10-15†9 August 1966 (effective from 9 August 1965)Southeast Asia 5,889,117 Unitary Westminster republic Gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Became independent on 9 August 1965.  1978-07-077 July 1978Oceania (Melanesia) 614,497 Unitary Commonwealth realm  1931-12-1119 November 1926Southern Africa 56,007,479 Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 31 May 1910. One of the original Dominions at the time of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and Statute of Westminster 1931. Left on 31 May 1961; rejoined 1 June 1994.  1948-02-044 February 1948South Asia 20,979,811 Unitary semi-presidential republic Joined as the Dominion of Ceylon, subsequently changing its name in 1972.  Became a republic in 1972  1961-12-099 December 1961East Africa 57,790,062 Unitary presidential republic Joined as Tanganyika and later Zanzibar, which subsequently merged to form Tanzania on 26 April 1964.  1970-06-044 June 1970Oceania (Polynesia) 107,228 Unitary constitutional monarchy  1962-08-3131 August 1962West Indies 1,376,801 Unitary Westminster republic Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 31 August 1962. Became a republic within the Commonwealth on 1 August, 1976 under the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Constitution Act 1976, passed by the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.  1978-10-011 October 1978Oceania (Polynesia) 10,116 Unitary Commonwealth realm A special member from 1 October 1978 until 1 September 2000.  1962-10-099 October 1962East Africa 42,288,962 Unitary presidential republic  1931-12-1119 November 1926Northern Europe 65,746,853 Unitary Commonwealth realm Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Statute of Westminster 1931.  1980-07-3030 July 1980Oceania (Melanesia) 279,953 Unitary Westminster republic Gained independence from joint rule (Condominium) of France and United Kingdom.  1964-10-2424 October 1964Southern Africa 17,470,471 Unitary presidential republic

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. Geopolitically part of Europe, but geographically part of Asia.
E. Constitutional monarchy that operates under a Westminster system. The monarch is not the British monarch, making it not a Commonwealth realm.

 Former member states 
 Country Joined Continent Region Left Notes  19 November 1926 Europe Northern Europe 18 April 1949 The Partition of Ireland, in 1921, caused its division into the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland (which remained in the UK). The Irish Free State was one of the original Dominions at the time of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931. Withdrew after passing the Republic of Ireland Act in 1948, accepted by the United Kingdom in the Ireland Act 1949.  18 April 1980 Africa Eastern Africa 7 December 2003 Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 was not recognised, but independence as Zimbabwe was recognised on 18 April 1980. Suspended on 19 March 2002. Withdrew voluntarily on 7 December 2003.

On 15 May 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa submitted an application to rejoin the Commonwealth.

Related pages
 Commonwealth of Nations

References

Category:Commonwealth of Nations