Home to almost 5 million people, New Zealand is located in the bottom corner of the world - southeast of Australia. Consisting of two main islands (the North and South Islands), New Zealand is made up of a total of 600 islands, including Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, Great Barrier Island and Waiheke Island, and hosts other small islands that litter the coast.
Aptly known as Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud) to the Maori, New Zealand stretches over 268,021km² with over 15,000km of coastline, the 9th longest coastline in the world.
Even though Auckland is the most populated city, New Zealand's capital is Wellington, located at the bottom of the South Island. This is also where the government is based. Auckland is the largest city with 1.6million people (almost a third of the population!).
The demography of New Zealand
Over 4.9million people call New Zealand home, with roughly a quarter of Kiwis born overseas, according to the most recent census. There is a range of ethnicities that call New Zealand home, including Maori, Pacific Islanders, Europeans and Asians. There are three official languages in the country - English, Maori and New Zealand Sign Language. English is the most widely spoken, with Maori, Samoan and Hindi being spoken by some communities.
New Zealand economy
New Zealand ranks among the easiest countries in the world to start a business in. It has also been rated the third freest economy in the world, and also came out of the 2008 economic crisis faster than most countries - due to which it is also considered to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
New Zealand is known for its agricultural industries, but tourism and construction have quickly become two main industries. As of 2019, New Zealand's GDP is US$205billion - or 0.33% of the worlds' economy.
Politics in New Zealand
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. This means it has a democratically elected House of Representatives who advise the head of the State (Prime minister). The Queen represents New Zealand. However, the Queen's head of state duties are carried out by a representative within New Zealand, called the Governor-General. The Governor-General is appointed by the Prime Minister and is currently Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy.
The House of Representatives (Government) is typically made up of 12 Members of Parliament, or MPs. They are elected every three years by a mixed-member proportional representation voting system. Everyone gets two votes - one for their local MP, the other for their preferred political party. The party wins by getting the highest number of seats in the House of Representatives - the winning local MP's receive those seats followed by other party members. In 2017, New Zealand gained a coalition government (two parties joining together for a majority), with the Prime Minister being Jacinda Ardern, only the second woman leader to have a child while in office.
New Zealand's climate
New Zealand is located in the Southern Hemisphere, which means summer is in December through February. Auckland and the upper North Island is closer to the equator, indicating a warmer climate, whereas the Deep South of the South Island is closer to Antarctica and much colder. Temperatures range from 20-30º Celsius, while in winter - from June to September - has temperatures ranging from 0-15º Celsius.
Due to the geography of the country, the climate is strongly affected by the sea and mountains. The north is almost sub-tropical. Wellington has a more maritime climate, and the South Island has large temperature ranges and snowfall throughout winter. New Zealand gets more sunshine per year than Europe, but with the ozone hole above the North Island, you will need suncream on all day.
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