Interesting facts about Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization of 53 member states, most of which were territories of the British Empire. Here are the interesting facts about this block.

The Commonwealth states have a total population of nearly one third of the world population, equivalent to about 2.4 billion people on a global population of 7.4 billion. The population of the block is quite young, many of which are under 30. The country with the largest population is India, accounting for about half of the total population. Meanwhile, there are 31 member countries with a population of less than or equal to 1.5 million people each.

Queen of England Elizabeth II.(Photo: Tribune).

In the 53 Commonwealth member states, not every country was once a colony of the British Empire. Rwanda and Mozambique joined the bloc respectively in 2009 and 1995 and they have never been colonized by England. Some member countries have also withdrawn or been expelled from the block. Former President Robert Mugabe pulled Zimbabwe out of the block in 2003 after being accused of election fraud and suspended membership. Some cases of countries have withdrawn and rejoined as South Africa, Pakistan. The last country to leave the block is Madives in 2016.

In 53 countries, only 16 countries are considered heads of state , the other six kingdoms with king rule for themselves are Lesotho, Swaziland, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Samo, Tonga. 31 countries follow the Republic regime.

A meeting of leaders of countries in the Commonwealth.(Photo: Getty).

The total area of ​​the block is quite large, with Canada being the second largest country in the world or India and Australia are also large countries. But the block also has many small-area countries like Nauru, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The former name of the block is the British Commonwealth . After 1949, the modern Commonwealth was born and the members decided to remove the English word from the block name. Since then, two people have led the block, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. The founding members of the Commonwealth are Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the UK with the initial purpose of establishing a free association of independent countries.

The Commonwealth does not have a Constitution . In 2012, the bloc issued a 16-point charter on the values ​​of its members including: democracy, gender equality, sustainable development and international peace and security.

Economies in the Commonwealth.(Graphic: BBC)

He is the country with the highest gross domestic product in the country. According to BBC, India may soon take the No. 1 position instead of Britain. The total GDP of 53 member countries is 10 trillion USD, nearly as high as China (11 trillion) and more than half of the US (19 trillion USD).

There are more than one Commonwealth in the world like the La Francophoni block e. This is a community of countries and territories that use French or the French-speaking Community for short. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Commonwealth of Independent States was born, including former Soviet members.