Facts & Figures

These tables contain key information regarding the geography, population and economy of Commonwealth member states, as well has education, information and communication technology integration, health and environmental factors.

Geographically, Canada is the largest country in the Commonwealth at just under 10 million square kilometres, followed closely by Australia at over 7 million sq km. While India is only the third largest in terms of land mass, it has the largest total population in the Commonwealth with over 1.2 billion citizens. On the other end of the scale, Nauru is the smallest Commonwealth member state both in size (21 sq km) and population (less than 10,000 in 2010). Australia has the highest GNI per capita in the Commonwealth, US$43,770 per person in 2009, and Malawi has the lowest, with the average GNI per capita of $330 in 2010.

While the majority of Commonwealth countries have an adult literacy rate above 90%, there are a few countries, including The Gambia and Sierra Leone, where less than 50% of the adult population is literate. The UK has the highest proportion of internet users, with 850 out of every 1,000 people using the internet regularly. However, Canada has the highest saturation of personal computers: 944 out of every 1,000 Canadians own a personal computer while only 802 out of every 1,000 own a computer in the UK.

In addition, the tables feature important governance related facts and figures, including country specific progress on key indicators of the Millennium Development Goals and Transparency International’s index of perceived public-sector corruption.

In Transparency International’s most recent index of perceived corruption in 2016, New Zealand was ranked as the second least corrupt country out of more than 170 listed countries, followed by Singapore, ranked 7th, and Canada at 9th. Out of 42 Commonwealth countries included in the index, Uganda is perceived to have the highest level of public-sector corruption, ranking 151st worldwide.

All countries with available data are listed. If a country is missing from a specific list or table, then there was no available or up-to-date information for that country on that subject.