The Commonwealth of Nations is a 56-member body that has members from all over the world. Among the common bonds of the member states are that they all at one point or another were part of the British Empire.

The Commonwealth of Nations had its origins in the British Empire, presided over by a number of monarchs, most notably Queen Victoria. Indeed, the 1887 Colonial Conference, which took place in conjunction with the queen's Golden Jubilee, laid the groundwork for a peaceful splintering of the Empire into a kingdom and its colonies, dependent and self-governing.

It was the South African soldier and later political leader Jan Smuts who coined the term "British Commonwealth of Nations," in 1917. The idea took hold and informed a number of decisions at the 1926 Imperial Conference, among them the Balfour Declaration, declaring that the United Kingdom and its dominions were not so much parent-and-child as equals, allies, part of something larger. An official proclamation of this idea came in the 1931 Statue of Westminster, to which prominent former colonies assented in subsequent years.

The British Empire did not last past World War II. Most possessions went their separate ways to a greater or lesser degree. Gaining independence prominently was India, throwing off the British Raj in 1947.

A handful of former colonies have gained independence but not joined the Commonwealth. These include Aden (now part of the Republic of Yemen), Bahrain, British Somaliland (now the Somali Republic), Burma (now Myanmar), Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Commonwealth banned South Africa in 1961 because of the country's racial apartheid. After the country's multiracial elections in 1994, South African gained readmittance into the Commonwealth.

The nominal head of the Commonwealth is the monarch of the United Kingdom. For the vast majority of the Commonwealth's existence, that monarch was Queen Elizabeth II. Her death in September 2022 brought her oldest son to the throne as King Charles III. Although he was not automatically the next head of the Commonwealth, the members had voted in 2018 to accept him as such when his mother died.

The majority of Commonwealth members are republics, run by elected governments (with some appointees). The U.K. monarch is head of state for some members, however. Every two years occurs the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The location is a city in one of the member states, and the leader of that state is head of the one-week meeting for the entirety of that week.

The main entity running things is the Commonwealth Secretariat, which was set up in 1965. The secretary-general is the head of the Secretariat and gets the job by being elected by the Commonwealth heads of state to serve a four-year term (with a limit of two terms). Two deputy secretary-generals support the top person.

In 1971, at the first meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, came the Singapore Declaration, which laid out the principles under which the Commonwealth would operate. Among the points of emphasis are the promotion of economic cooperation, individual liberty, world peace, and general equality.

The following are members of the Commonwealth (and includes the year joined):

Antigua and Barbuda, 1981	Australia, 1926	Bahamas, 1973
Bangladesh, 1972	Barbados, 1966	Belize, 1981
Botswana, 1966	Brunei Darussalam, 1984	Cameroon, 1995
Canada, 1926	Cyprus, 1961	Dominica, 1978
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), 1968	Fiji, 1970	Gabon, 2022
Gambia, 1965	Ghana, 1957	Granada, 1974
Guyana, 1966	India, 1947	Jamaica, 1962
Kenya, 1963	Kiribati, 1979	Lesotho, 1966
Malawi, 1964	Malaysia, 1957	Maldives, 1987
Malta, 1964	Mauritius, 1968	Mozambique, 1995
Namibia, 1990	Nauru, 1968	New Zealand, 1926
Nigeria, 1960	Pakistan, 1947	Papua New Guinea, 1975
Rwanda, 2009	Saint Kitts and Nevis, 1983	Saint Lucia, 1979
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 1979	Samoa, 1970	Seychelles, 1976
Sierra Leone, 1961	Singapore, 1966	Solomon Islands, 1978
South Africa, 1926	Sri Lanka, 1948	Tanzania, 1961
Togo, 2022	Tonga, 1970	Trinidad and Tobago, 1962
Tuvalu, 1978	Uganda, 1962	United Kingdom, 1926
Vanuatu, 1980	Zambia, 1964

The Commonwealth acts in the collective interest in a number of ways:

• An economic development program provides a trade network and funding avenues for the smaller-size states, which make up the majority of the members.
• A human development program promotes goals such as universal primary education and health initiatives for member citizens. Of particular interest to the Commonwealth is a move toward more gender parity in its members' workforces. The Commonwealth also has a separate initiative stream to speak out against violations of international human rights standards.
• A public sector development program helps member states who have government departments but might not run them in the same way.
• A rule of law program emphasizes the need for democratic institutions and legal preeminence in member states.
• A sustainable development program prioritizes the environment in initiatives across the member states' agendas, from economic to living areas.
• The Commonwealth of Learning promotes the sharing of education resources, particularly those associated with distance learning.

As well, the Commonwealth oversees dozens of collective security organizations in the fields of agriculture, architecture, engineering, geography and meteorology, language and literature, media, social work, sports, and veterinary science.

One of the most visible manifestations of the Commonwealth is the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, which offer competition to the member states' athletes in nearly two dozen events. The first similar event took place in 1930 and was known as the British Empire Games. The name changed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 and again in 1970 to the British Commonwealth Games. From 1978, the events have been known as simply the Commonwealth Games.

Member states have taken turns as the host nation for these athletic gatherings. The Games, under their various names, have taken place in these locations:

1930	Hamilton, Canada
1934	London, England
1938	Sydney, Australia
1942	Montreal, Canada
1946	Cardiff, Wales
1950	Auckland, New Zealnd
1954	Vancouver, Canada
1958	Cardiff, Wales
1962	Perth, Australia
1966	Kingston, Jamaica
1970	Edinburgh, Scotland
1974	Christchurch, New Zealand
1978	Edmonton, Canada
1982	Brisbane, Australia
1986	Edinburgh, Scotland
1990	Auckland, New Zealand
1994	Victoria, Canada
1998	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2002	Manchester, England
2006	Melbourne, Australia
2010	Delhi, India
2014	Glasgow, Canada
2018	Gold Coast, Australia
2022	Birmingham, England

As in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games participants win medals for the top three performances. Australia is a clear first in total medals won and in gold medals won, followed by England and then, distantly, Canada.