The Commonwealth of Nations is one of the oldest international groupings of nations. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were the modern Commonwealth's five original members created by the Treaty of Westminster in 1931.

The People
The Commonwealth's 1.7 billion people account for 30 per cent of the world's population. More than half of the Commonwealth's 1.7 billion people are under 25 years of age.

Populations of member countries range from several thousand people up to one billion people, in the case of India. Thirty-two member nations are considered small states with populations of less than 1.5 million people.

The Members
The majority of the Commonwealth's members are developing countries which comprise 50 of its 54 members. Thirty-two of the Commonwealth's members are small states.

The Commonwealth has 54 member countries of which 33 are republics, 16 are monarchies with Queen Elizabeth II as their sovereign, and five others have national monarchies.

While only independent countries can become members, the Commonwealth includes more than 30 associated members, ie. self-governing states and dependencies associated with member countries. These include Niue and The Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Such countries take part in many Commonwealth activities, including programmes of cooperation, and are regarded as part of the Commonwealth family. For example, they participate in the Commonwealth Games.

Acceptance
Countries are accepted as members of the Commonwealth by consensus among existing member governments. When assessing applications for Commonwealth membership, Heads of Government take into account the following criteria. The applicant country should as a rule:

List of Members of the Commonwealth of Nations

Country Capital Status Joined Antigua & Barbuda St John's M 1981 **Australia Canberra M 1931 The Bahamas Nassau M 1973 Bangladesh Dhaka R 1972 Barbados Bridgetown M 1966 Belize Belmopan M 1981 Botswana Gaborone RE 1966 Brunei Darussalam Bandar Seri Begawan NM 1984 Cameroon Yaoundé RE 1995 **Canada Ottawa M 1931 Cyprus Nicosia RE 1961 Dominica Roseau R 1978 Fiji Islands Suva R 1997 The Gambia Banjul RE 1965 Ghana Accra RE 1957 Grenada St George's M 1974 Guyana Georgetown RE 1966 India New Delhi R 1947 Jamaica Kingston M 1962 Kenya Nairobi RE 1963 Kiribati Tarawa RE 1979 Lesotho Maseru NM 1966 Malawi Lilongwe RE 1964 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur NM 1957 Maldives Malé RE 1982 Malta Valletta R 1964 Mauritius Port Louis R 1968 Mozambique Maputo R 1995 Namibia Windhoek RE 1990 Nauru Yaren M 1968 Nigeria Abuja RE 1960 **New Zealand Wellington M 1931 *Pakistan Islamabad R 1989 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby M 1975 Samoa Apia R 1970 St Kitts & Nevis Basseterre M 1983 St Lucia Castries M 1979 St Vincent & the Grenadines Kingstown M 1979 Seychelles Victoria RE 1976 Sierra Leone Freetown RE 1961 Singapore Singapore R 1965 Solomon Islands Honiara M 1978 **South Africa Pretoria R 1994 Sri Lanka Colombo RE 1948 Swaziland Mbabane NM 1968 Tonga Nuku'alofa NM 1970 Trinidad & Tobago Port of Spain R 1962 Tuvalu Funafuti M 1978 Uganda Kampala RE 1962 **United Kingdom London M 1931 United Republic of Tanzania Dar es Salam RE 1961 Vanuatu Port Vila R 1980 Zambia Lusaka RE 1964 Zimbabwe Harare RE 1980

Status abbreviations:
M - Monarchy (Her Majesty The Queen) R - Republic	NM - National Monarchy RE - Republic with Executive President

*	Note: Pakistan is currently suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth and is therefore ineligible to attend CHOGM.
**	Note: one of five original members created by the Treaty of Westminster in 1931. South Africa was obliged to withdraw its membership 30 years later but rejoined in 1994.

January 2002

For further information:

Contact: Terry Walls, Media Information Officer, CHOGM 2002 Task Force
Mobile: 0419 606 107
E-mail terry.walls@pmc.gov.au

Prepared by: CHOGM 2002 Task Force
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet