Important Facts About NZ

Land area:
270 534 sq kms (includes Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island, Chatham Islands, and Kermadec Islands)

Coastline:
15 134 kms

Population;
4 million people (80% of the population live in cities)

Capital city:
Wellington, North Island (population around 350 000)
At 41.2o South, Wellington is the most southerly capital city on the planet. Cities on similar latitudes in the Northern hemisphere are Barcelona, Istanbul and Chicago.

Largest city:
Auckland, North Island (population around 1.5 million)

Largest South Island city/:
Christchurch (population around 350 000)

Other Major cities:
Hamilton, North Island and Dunedin South Island

Life Expectancy:
77 years

National symbol:
Fern (the silver fern)

National colour:
Black

National Bird:
Kiwi (which is what New Zealanders are referred to as)

National Sport:
Rugby Union

Prime Minister:
John Key(National Party)

To become a New Zealander:
To become a New Zealand citizen, you must swear an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth.

National Resources:
Natural gas, iron ore, sand, timber, coal, hydropower, gold and limestone

Major Industries:
Tourism, Agriculture, fishing, food processing, wood and paper products (30% of New Zealand's land is forested. Forestry accounts for 12% of New Zealand's exports. This is expected to increase as more plantations mature), textiles, machinery, transportation, banking, equipment, insurance and mining

Government:
New Zealand has a well-developed economy with a government structure based on the British parliamentary system. New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. The traditional head of state is the reining British monarch and is represented by a resident governor general.

Top New Zealand sports by membership
Golf: 128,860
Netball: 120,440
Soccer: 105,023
Rugby Union: 98,543
Cricket 87,100

Rainfall in New Zealand:
The highest rainfall in a year in New Zealand was a drenching 18.4 metres (60 feet) in 1997-1998 at Cropp River on the west of the South Island. By contrast, the lowest rainfall was a miserly 167 mm (6.6 inches) in 1963-1964 at Alexandra, Central Otago.

Driving in New Zealand:
Latest annual road deaths for every 100,000 of population show that New Zealand's roads are getting safer:

UK: 6 per 100,000
Australia: 9
NZ: 10
Canada: 10
Spain: 15
United States: 15

Not so many years ago, New Zealand had 13. The major reason now for more deaths in NZ compared to UK is that there are very few multi-lane highways in NZ.

The Cars on New Zealand roads:
NZ roads don't need to be salted so cars rust very slowly.
Around a fifth of cars are less than seven years old.
Around two thirds of cars are between seven and 16 years old.
Around a sixth of cars are more than 16 years old.
With 2.5 million cars for four million people, including children, New Zealand's car ownership rate is one of the world's highest.
New Zealanders make only about 2% of their journeys by bus and less than 1% by rail.

Climate in New Zealand:
Due to the moderating effect of the ocean, summer and winter temperatures in most NZ locations differ by less than 10 o CThe most continental climate is found in the South Island, in Central Otago, inland from Dunedin.

Here the temperature reaches 24 oC on an average day in summer while in winter it falls to -2 oC on an average night. Rainfall is a semi-arid 350 mm a year. In comparison, rainfall in other New Zealand locations is:

>> Christchurch 635 mm.

>> Wellington 1250 mm.

>> Auckland 1200 mm.

Much of New Zealand's stone fruits, such as peaches and apricots are grown in Central Otago.

Earthquakes in New Zealand:
The last fatal earthquake in New Zealand was on the West Coast of the South Island in May 1968. Three deaths resulted.

New Zealand’s Sheep:
From the early 1980's, NZ was home to over 70 million sheep, the population has declined to around 40 million. This means the oft-quoted statistic, that NZ has 20 sheep for each human, is wrong! Nowadays it's only about 10 to 1. This decline hasn't stopped NZ from cornering 50% of all international trade in sheep meat.
Sheep in NZ are free of scrapie, a brain disease similar to BSE, that's present in sheep in many other countries. It's thought that BSE was caused by scrapie jumping the "species barrier" from sheep to cows. Cattle in NZ are free of BSE.

New Zealand’s dairy farming
New Zealand is one of the top five dairy exporters in the world. The top five countries supply around 90 percent of dairy products on the international market. There are over nine million beef and dairy cattle in NZ.

New Zealand’s top earning qualifications:
Graduates from New Zealand's universities and colleges who tend to earn the highest salaries are those qualified in sciences, management and commerce and engineering. Creative arts, food, hospitality and personal services and information technology graduates tended to have lower salaries.

What New Zealand children study:
Children in New Zealand's secondary schools spend more time than the OECD average learning mathematics, science, technology and physical education. They spend less time learning foreign languages, arts and religion than children in other countries.

For families in New Zealand who have children:
41% have one child
36% have two children
23% have more than two children.

Other New Zealand family facts:
24% of New Zealand families have only one parent.
Over 40% of Maori children live in one-parent families.
17% of NZ European children live in one-parent families.
26% of children in both the US and UK live in one-parent families.
14% of children in Germany live in one-parent families.

People born outside New Zealand:
About 20% of New Zealand's residents were born overseas. This compares with 24% in Australia, 17% in Canada and 10% in the USA.

Smoking in New Zealand:
Since 1990, total tobacco consumption in NZ has fallen by one-third.

One in five deaths in New Zealand are caused tobacco smoking.

25% of New Zealand's total adult population smoke.

50% of Mäori, 30% of Pacific Islander and 20% of European people smoke.

Tourists who spend the most in New Zealand:
The biggest contributors to New Zealand's Tourism earnings, accounting for 55% of all money spent, are:
Australians 16%
British 14%
Americans 13%
Japanese 12%

Drinking in New Zealand:
Compared with other countries, New Zealanders are not heavy drinkers. The average New Zealander drinks:
5% less alcohol than the average Australian.
12% less alcohol than the average Briton.
30% less alcohol than the average German.
40% less alcohol than the average Irish.

The Top Ten Countries New Zealand Imports from are:
1. Australia
2. United States
3. Japan
4. China
5. Germany
6. United Kingdom
7. Malaysia
8. Italy
9. Korea
10. Taiwan

New Zealand's Top Ten Export Markets are:
1. Australia
2. United States
3. Japan
4. United Kingdom
5. Korea< br>6. China
7. Germany
8. Taiwan
9. Hong Kong
10. Canada