The Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations
Flag Logo
Member states of the Commonwealth
Headquarters	Marlborough House, London
Working language	English
Type	Intergovernmental organisation
Member states	52 states  Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belize Botswana Brunei Cameroon Canada Cyprus Dominica Fiji Ghana Grenada Guyana India Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Malta Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom Vanuatu Zambia
Leaders
• Head	Queen Elizabeth II
• Secretary-General	Baroness Scotland of Asthal
• Chair-in-Office	Joseph Muscat
Establishment
• Balfour Declaration	19 November 1926
• Statute of Westminster	11 December 1931
• London Declaration	28 April 1949
Area
• Total	29,958,050 km2 (11,566,870 sq mi)
Population
• 2013 estimate	2,328,000,000
• Density	75/km2 (194.2/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2014 estimate
• Total	$14.623 trillion
• Per capita	$6,222
GDP (nominal)	2014 estimate
• Total	$10.450 trillion
• Per capita	$4,446
Website thecommonwealth.org

The Commonwealth of Nations (formerly the British Commonwealth), also known as simply The Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire. The Commonwealth operates by intergovernmental consensus of the member states, organised through the Commonwealth Secretariat and non-governmental organisations, organised through the Commonwealth Foundation.

The Commonwealth dates back to the mid-20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the member states as "free and equal". The symbol of this free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, known as Commonwealth realms. The other Commonwealth members have different heads of state: 31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch.

Member states have no legal obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their shared values of democracy, free speech, human rights, and the rule of law. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games.