The Anglosphere is a set of English-speaking nations with a similar cultural roots, based upon populations originating from the nations of the British Isles (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland), which today maintain close political and military cooperation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, although the nations that are commonly included were all once part of the British Empire. In its most restricted sense, the term covers the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which post-British Empire maintain a close affinity of cultural, familial, and political links with one another. Additionally, all of these countries (except Ireland) are militarily aligned under the following programs: UKUSA Agreement (signals intelligence), Five Eyes (intelligence), Combined Communications Electronics Board (communications electronics), The Technical Cooperation Program (technology and science), Air and Space Interoperability Council (air forces), AUSCANNZUKUS (navies), and ABCA Armies.
Below is a table comparing the countries of the Anglosphere (data updated in 2014).
The term Anglosphere was first coined, but not explicitly defined, by the science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his book The Diamond Age, published in 1995. John Lloyd adopted the term in 2000 and defined it as including the United States and the United Kingdom along with English-speaking Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and the British West Indies. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate".