All important New Zealand facts are composed in a list of facts and figures. For those who are keen on more background information than just New Zealand facts, please follow the links.
Country Name: New Zealand
Abbreviation: NZ
New Zealand’s name given by the Maori people is Aotearoa commonly translated into English as The Land of the Long White Cloud. Today’s official name derived from Nova Zeelandia. A Dutch cartographer chose this name after a province in his home country. Later the well known British explorer converted it into the English term New Zealand.
Administrative Divisions: Regions (16) and Territory (1): 16 regions and 1 territory*; Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Chatham Islands*, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, Marlborough, Nelson, Northland, Otago, Southland, Taranaki, Tasman, Waikato, Wellington, West Coast
Capital: Wellington with a population of 169,000 is the capital furthest south in the world
Map References: New Zealand is an island in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia. As part of Oceania its geographical coordinates are 41 00 S / 174 00 E.
Land Area: comparable to the size of Colorado it covers 268,676 square km. Split into two islands North Island covers an area from 115,690 square km; the South Island slightly bigger stretches over 152,356 square km. These Islands are included in the total land area Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island, Chatham Islands, and Kermadec Islands.
About 80% of the population lives in cities. In Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city live 1.3 million people. Auckland is also considered the gateway to New Zealand.
The major means of transport in New Zealand are automobiles, planes and trains.
Roadways: total 92,931 km Paved: 59,783 km Unpaved: 33,148 km(2003)
Airports: 121 (2007); runway over 3km: 2; and runway over 2.5km: 1; runway over 1.5km: 11; runway over 914m 26; runway under 914m: 1; with unpaved runways: 80
Railways: 4,128 km
Ports and Terminals: Auckland, Lyttelton, Marsden Point, Tauranga, Wellington, Whangarei
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