New Zealand Country Info - Oceania

Description and Basic Information

New Zealand with its capital Wellington is located in Oceania (Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean). It covers some 268,681 square kilometres (about the size of Colorado) with 4,154,000 citizens. English and Maori are the the official languages used in New Zealand.

New Zealand is known in the native Maori language as Aotearoa, often translated as The land of the long white cloud. New Zealand is a country of stunning and diverse natural beauty which includes: jagged mountains, steep fiords, pristine lakes, raging rivers, scenic beaches, and active volcanic features. The islands are one of Earth's richest flora zones and is inhabited by some unique fauna, including many flightless birds such as the kiwi, which is the national symbol. The country is sparsely populated but easily accessible. New Zealand has modern visitor facilities, and developed transportation networks. New Zealand consists of two main islands and many smaller ones in the South Pacific Ocean approximately 1,600 km (1,000 mi) southeast of Australia. With a population of four million in a country about the size of the United Kingdom, many areas are sparsely settled.

Pictures from Capital (Wellington)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About New Zealand

The topography features predominately mountainous with some large coastal plains. The average density of population is about 15 per km². The climate in New Zealand can be described as temperate with sharp regional contrasts. Potential natural disasters are earthquakes are common, though usually not severe or volcanic activity.

To reach someone in New Zealand dial +64 prior to a number. There are 1,870,000 installed telephones. And there are 4,700,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".nz". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 230V - 50Hz. The following list are the 18 regions/states in New Zealand we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total New Zealand population grew at a rate of 0.9% (or by 38,313 citizens). With 30,191 deaths and 58,724 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 0.67%. 9,780 persons more in total immigrated to the country than emmigrated.

An overview of age distribution in New Zealand: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.