The Commonwealth is a unique group of 54 developed and developing nations around the world. It is collection of independent countries, from all over the globe, which have voluntarily come together, with the Queen as its head. It's a sizeable group as 1.7 billion people live in Commonwealth countries, accounting for 30 per cent of the world's population

The Commonwealth includes some of the world's biggest countries and some of its smallest. India for example has nearly one billion people living there. The smallest are Nauru and Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean, each with about a population of 11,000 people.

All of the member states, except for Mozambique, have experienced direct or indirect British rule, or have been linked administratively to another Commonwealth country. At a 1997 summit in Heads of Government agreed that in order to become a member of the Commonwealth, an applicant country should have had a constitutional link with another Commonwealth country and it should also comply with Commonwealth values.

Commonwealth countries help each other to make their economies stronger, to improve their systems of government and to improve the skills of their people. Heads of Government (usually Presidents and Prime Ministers) and Government Ministers of member countries also meet regularly to discuss this every two years.

Well, the Commonwealth is active in a number of diverse areas, from Observing Elections to providing models for good Health practices for women, from advising member countries on Debt Management to helping them negotiate better trade arrangements.

• Improving the quality of education and schools, for teachers and students
• Supporting immunisation campaigns so that children are healthier
• Making people more aware of HIV/AIDS and how to deal with it
• Promoting the Commonwealth Games;
• Helping young people to borrow money to start small businesses
• Studying the rainforest so we learn to take better care of the environment

Athletes from Commonwealth countries compete against each other in a wide variety of sports every 4 years at the Commonwealth Games.

Any person who is a citizen of any member of the Commonwealth country can be called a Commonwealth 'citizen'. He or she is part of the unique Commonwealth family.