New Zealand Aotearoa | |
---|---|
Anthem: | |
Capital | Wellington 41°17′S 174°27′E / 41.283°S 174.450°E |
Official languages | English (95.9%)[n 2] Māori (4.2%) NZ Sign Language (0.6%) |
Ethnic groups | 78% European/Other[n 3] 14.6% Māori 9.2% Asian 6.9% Pacific peoples |
Demonym(s) | New Zealander, Kiwi (colloquial) |
Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Charles III |
Dame Cindy Kiro | |
Christopher Luxon | |
Independence from the United Kingdom[n 4] | |
17 January 1853 | |
• Dominion | 26 September 1907 |
11 December 1931 (adopted 25 November 1947) | |
13 December 1986 | |
Area | |
• Total | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (75th) |
• Water (%) | 1.6[n 5] |
Population | |
• September 2011 estimate | 4,414,400 (124th) |
• 2006 census | 4,027,947 |
• Density | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (202nd) |
GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate |
• Total | $120.2 billion (61st) |
• Per capita | $27,217 (32nd) |
GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate |
• Total | $157.877 billion (51st) |
• Per capita | $35,374 (24th) |
Gini (1997) | 36.2 medium |
HDI (2011) | 0.908 very high · 5th |
Currency | New Zealand dollar (NZD) |
Time zone | UTC+12 (NZST[n 6]) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+13 (NZDT) |
(Sep to Apr) | |
Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
Driving side | left |
Calling code | +64 |
ISO 3166 code | NZ |
Internet TLD | .nz[n 7] |
New Zealand (known as Aotearoa in the Māori language) is an island country in Oceania. It is a sovereign state in the south-western part of the Pacific Ocean. It is made up of two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) and many smaller islands. These islands are located to the southeast of Australia. New Zealand was one of the last places in the world that humans discovered, because it is a long way away from most of the world. During its time without humans, New Zealand was a great place for an unusual range of plants and animals to develop.