1)About 2.4 billion people - out of 7.4 billion globally - live in the
Commonwealth's 53 countries. And most of them are under the age of 30.
The
biggest country by population is India, which accounts for about half
of the total. But 31 Commonwealth members have a population of 1.5
million people or fewer.
2)The Commonwealth makes up a quarter of the world's land mass.
The giant of the group is Canada, the world's second largest country. India and Australia are huge too.
But many of the states are small - like the Pacific island nations of Nauru, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, and Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean.
3)Rwanda and Mozambique became members in 2009 and 1995 respectively, and neither has a British colonial past or constitutional link.
4)Robert Mugabe took Zimbabwe out in 2003 after its membership was suspended amid reports of election rigging.
Pakistan was suspended after a military coup in 1999 and was re-admitted four-and-a-half years later.
South Africa withdrew in 1961 after it was criticised by Commonwealth members for its apartheid policies. It became a member again in 1994.
The last country to leave was the Maldives in 2016.
5)Most of the Commonwealth states are republics and six - Lesotho, Swaziland, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Samoa and Tonga - have their own monarch.
6)The founding Commonwealth members were Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, who formed a "free association" of independent countries.
The Commonwealth had no constitution until it adopted its Charter in 2012, which committed members to 16 values of democracy, gender equality, sustainable development and international peace and security
The giant of the group is Canada, the world's second largest country. India and Australia are huge too.
But many of the states are small - like the Pacific island nations of Nauru, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, and Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean.
3)Rwanda and Mozambique became members in 2009 and 1995 respectively, and neither has a British colonial past or constitutional link.
4)Robert Mugabe took Zimbabwe out in 2003 after its membership was suspended amid reports of election rigging.
Pakistan was suspended after a military coup in 1999 and was re-admitted four-and-a-half years later.
South Africa withdrew in 1961 after it was criticised by Commonwealth members for its apartheid policies. It became a member again in 1994.
The last country to leave was the Maldives in 2016.
5)Most of the Commonwealth states are republics and six - Lesotho, Swaziland, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Samoa and Tonga - have their own monarch.
6)The founding Commonwealth members were Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, who formed a "free association" of independent countries.
The Commonwealth had no constitution until it adopted its Charter in 2012, which committed members to 16 values of democracy, gender equality, sustainable development and international peace and security
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