<P> In addition to this new rule, the former rules were consolidated into a single document . These requirements are that members must accept and comply with the Harare principles, be fully sovereign states, recognise the monarch of the Commonwealth realms as the Head of the Commonwealth, accept the English language as the means of Commonwealth communication, and respect the wishes of the general population with regard to Commonwealth membership . These requirements had undergone review, and a report on potential amendments was presented by the Committee on Commonwealth Membership at the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting . New members were not admitted at this meeting, though applications for admission were considered at the 2009 CHOGM . </P> <P> New members must "as a general rule" have a direct constitutional link to an existing member . In most cases, this is due to being a former colony of the United Kingdom, but some have links to other countries, either exclusively or more directly (e.g. Samoa to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea to Australia, and Namibia to South Africa). The first member to be admitted without having any constitutional link to the British Empire or a Commonwealth member was Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, in 1995 following its first democratic elections and South Africa's re-admission in 1994 . Mozambique's controversial entry led to the Edinburgh Declaration and the current membership guidelines . In 2009, Rwanda became the second Commonwealth member admitted not to have any such constitutional links . It was a Belgian trust territory that had been a German colony until World War I. Consideration for its admission was considered an "exceptional circumstance" by the Commonwealth Secretariat . </P> <P> The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries, across all continents . The members have a combined population of 2.3 billion people, almost a third of the world population, of which 1.26 billion live in India and 94% live in Asia and Africa combined . After India, the next - largest Commonwealth countries by population are Pakistan (180 million), Nigeria (170 million), Bangladesh (156 million), the United Kingdom (65 million), South Africa (55 million) Canada (36 million), Ghana (27 million) and Australia (24 million). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with about 10,000 people . </P> <P> The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 31,500,000 km (12,200,000 sq mi), or about 21% of the total world land area . The three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 9,984,670 km (3,855,100 sq mi), Australia at 7,617,930 km (2,941,300 sq mi), and India at 3,287,263 km (1,269,219 sq mi). In 2016, the Commonwealth members had a combined gross domestic product of over $9 trillion, 78% of which is accounted for by the four largest economies: United Kingdom ($2.629 trillion), India ($2.256 trillion), Canada ($1.529 trillion), and Australia ($1.258 trillion). </P>

Is india a member of the commonwealth of nations