The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries, almost a third of the world's countries, and has a combined population of 1.7 billion people, about a quarter of the world population. Of the 1.7 billion people, 1.4 billion live in the Indian Subcontinent. The total GDP is about US$7.8 trillion (about 16% of the total world economy). The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 12.1 million square miles (about 21% of the total world land area).

The five largest Commonwealth nations by population are India at 1.1 billion, Pakistan at 165 million, Bangladesh at 148 million, Nigeria at 137 million, and United Kingdom at 60 million.

The three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 3.8 million square miles, Australia at 3.0 million square miles, and India at 1.2 million square miles.

The largest military spenders are the United Kingdom at GBP£33.4 billion[US$66.8 billion], India at GBP£10.6 billion[US$21 billion], and Australia and Canada at GBP£5.3 billion[US$10.5 billion] each. The Commonwealth of Nations is not a military alliance. See: List of countries by military expenditures.

Nauru joined as a Special Member, but was a full member from May 1999 to January 2006 when it reverted back.

Tuvalu is the smallest member, with only 11,000 people. Flags of the members of the Commonwealth in Horse Guards Road, next to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London. Flags of the members of the Commonwealth in Horse Guards Road, next to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.

Membership is open to countries that accept the association's basic aims and have a present or past constitutional link to a Commonwealth member. Not all members have had direct constitutional ties to Britain: some South Pacific countries were formerly under Australian or New Zealand administration, while Namibia was governed by South Africa from 1920 until independence in 1990. Cameroon joined in 1995 although only a fraction of its territory had formerly been under British administration through the League of Nations mandate of 1920–46 and United Nations Trusteeship arrangement of 1946–61. There is only one member of the present Commonwealth that has never had any constitutional link to the British Empire or a Commonwealth member: Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, was admitted in 1995 on the back of the triumphal re-admission of South Africa and Mozambique's first democratic elections, held in 1994. The move was supported by Mozambique's neighbours, all of whom were members of the Commonwealth and who wished to offer assistance in overcoming the losses incurred from the country's opposition to white minority regimes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. In 1997, amid some discontent, Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that Mozambique's admission should be seen as a special case and not set a precedent.

Table of Members

Country	Member Since	Capital	Population
Antigua and Barbuda	1981	St John's	81,000
Australia	1931	Canberra	19,942,000
Bahamas	1973	Nassau	319,000
Bangladesh	1972	Dhaka	139,215,000
Barbados	1966	Bridgetown	269,000
Belize	1981	Belmopan	264,000
Botswana	1966	Gaborone	1,769,000
Brunei	2004	Bandar Seri Begawan	366,000
Cameroon	1995	Yaounde (Constitutional); Douala (Economic)	16,038,000
Canada	1931	Ottawa	31,958,000
Cyprus	1961	Nicosia	826,000
Dominica	1978	Roseau	79,000
Fiji1	1970 (Left 1987, Rejoined 1997)	Suva	841,000
Gambia	1965	Banjul	1,478,000
Ghana	1957	Accra	21,664,000
Grenada	1974	St George's	102,000
Guyana	1966	Georgetown	750,000
India	1947	New Delhi	1,087,124,000
Jamaica	1962	Kingston	2,639,000
Kenya	1963	Nairobi	33,467,000
Kiribati	1979	Tarawa	97,000
Lesotho	1966	Maseru	1,798,000
Malawi	1964	Lilongwe	12,608,000
Malaysia	1957	Kuala Lumpur	24,894,000
Maldives	1982	Malé	321,000
Malta	1964	Valletta	400,000
Mauritius	1968	Port Louis	1,233,000
Mozambique	1995	Maputo	19,424,000
Namibia	1990	Windhoek	2,009,000
Nauru2	1968	Yaren (unofficially)	13,000
New Zealand	1931	Wellington	3,989,000
Nigeria3	1960	Abuja	128,709,000
Pakistan4	1947 (Left 1972, Rejoined 1989)	Islamabad	154,794,000
Papua New Guinea	1975	Port Moresby	5,772,000
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1983	Basseterre	42,000
Saint Lucia	1979	Castries	159,000
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1979	Kingstown	118,000
Samoa	1970	Apia	184,000
Seychelles	1976	Victoria	80,000
Sierra Leone	1961	Freetown	5,336,000
Singapore	1965	Singapore	4,237,000
Solomon Islands	1978	Honiara	466,000
South Africa	1931 (Left 1961, Rejoined 1994)	Pretoria (executive); Bloemfontein (judicial); Cape Town (legislative)	47,208,000
Sri Lanka	1948	Sri Jayawardhanapura Kotte (Constitutional); Colombo (Economic)	20,570,000
Swaziland	1968	Mbabane	1,034,000
Tanzania	1961	Dar es Salaam	27,627,000
Tonga	1970	Nuku'alofa	102,000
Trinidad and Tobago	1962	Port of Spain	1,301,000
Tuvalu	1978	Funafuti	10,000
Uganda	1962	Kampala	25,827,000
United Kingdom	1931	London	59,251,000
Vanuatu	1980	Port Vila	207,000
Zambia	1964	Lusaka	11,479,000

Notes

• Fiji has been suspended since 2006.
• Nauru has been a special member again since 2006.
• Nigeria was suspended between 1995 and 1999.
• Pakistan was suspended between 1999 and 2004.