Colour indicates civilizations; green: Muslim, pink: East Asian, grey: other.
| year | colonial empire | new indepedent country |
| 1945 | Netherlands | Indonesia |
| 1946 | USA | Philippines |
| France | Syria | |
| 1947 | Great Britain | Pakistan* |
| India* | ||
| 1948 | Great Britain | Sri Lanka |
| 1951 | Great Britain | Libya |
| 1956 | France | Tunisia |
| France and Spain | Marocco | |
| 1958 | France | Guinea |
| 1960 | France | Mauritania Mali Niger Tschad Senegal Ivory Coast Upper Volta Cameroon Gabon Congo |
| Central African Republic Togo Dahomey Madagascar |
||
| Great Britain | Nigeria | |
| Ghana | ||
| 1961 | Great Britain | Tanganjika Sansibar Sierra Leone Kuwait |
| 1962 | France | Algeria |
| Great Britain | Jamaica Uganda Western Samoa |
|
| Belgium | Ruanda Burundi |
|
| 1963 | Great Britain | Kenia |
| 1964 | Great Britain | Samibia Malawi |
| 1965 | Great Britain | Gambia Maldives |
| 1966 | Great Britain | Botswana Lesotho Barbados Trinidad and Tobago Guyana |
| 1967 | Great Britain | Swaziland Nauru |
| Spain | Equatorial Guinea | |
| 1970 | Great Britain | Fiiji Tonga |
| 1975 | Portugal | Mozambique |
| Australia | Papua New Guinea | |
| 1976 | Portugal | Angola |
| 1979 | Great Britain | Kiribati |
| 1980 | Great Britain | Zimbabwe Belize |
| 1981 | Great Britain | Antigua and Barbuda |
| 1990 | South Africa (Great Britain) |
Namibia |
| 1997 | Great Britain | Hongkong (returned to China) |
*: The division of the British colonial possessions in the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan (which then also included Bangla Desh) was achieved at great human cost. Some 8.5 million people had to flee India and resettle in Pakistan, while some 6 million had to flee Pakistan and resettle in India. The region of Kashmir is still disputed territory.