New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean
comprising two main landmasses (commonly called the
North
Island
and the South Island
), and numerous smaller islands, most notably
Stewart
Island/Rakiura
and the Chatham Islands
. The indigenous
Māori language name for New Zealand is
Aotearoa, commonly
translated as
The Land of the Long White Cloud.
The
Realm of New Zealand also
includes the Cook
Islands
and Niue
(self-governing but in free
association); Tokelau
; and the
Ross Dependency (New Zealand's
territorial claim in
Antarctica).
New
Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation: it is situated
about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea
, and its closest neighbours to the north are
New
Caledonia
, Fiji
and Tonga
.
During its long isolation New Zealand developed a
distinctive fauna dominated by
birds, a number of which became
extinct after the arrival of humans and the
mammals they
introduced.
The majority of New Zealand's population is of
European descent; the
indigenous Māori are the largest minority.
Asian and non-Māori Polynesians are also
significant minority groups, especially in
urban areas. The most commonly
spoken language is
English.
New Zealand is a
developed country
that ranks highly in international comparisons on
human
development,
quality of
life,
life
expectancy,
literacy,
public education,
peace,
prosperity,
economic freedom,
ease of doing business,
lack of corruption,
press
freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political
rights. Its cities also consistently rank among the world's most
liveable.
Elizabeth II, as the
Queen of New Zealand, is the
country's
head of state and is
represented by a ceremonial
Governor-General who holds
reserve powers. The Queen has no real
political influence, and her position is essentially symbolic.
Political power is held by the
democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand under
the leadership of the
Prime Minister, who is the
head of government.
Etymology
It is
unknown whether Māori had a name for New Zealand as a whole before
the arrival of Europeans, although they referred to the North Island
as Te Ika a Māui
(the fish of Māui) and the South Island
as Te Wai Pounamu (the waters of
greenstone) or Te Waka o Aoraki (the
canoe of Aoraki). Until the early 20th century, the North
Island was also referred to as
Aotearoa
(colloquially translated "land of the long white cloud"); in modern
Māori usage, this name refers to the whole country. Aotearoa is
also commonly used in this sense in
New Zealand English, where it is
sometimes used alone, and in some formal uses combined with the
English name to express respect to the original inhabitants of the
country, for example in the form of "[Organisation name] of
Aotearoa New Zealand".
The first European name for New Zealand was
Staten Landt,
the name given to it by the Dutch explorer
Abel Tasman, who in 1642 became the first
European to see the islands. Tasman assumed it was part of a
southern continent connected with land discovered in 1615 off the
southern tip of
South America by
Jacob Le Maire, which had been named
Staten Landt, meaning "Land of the (Dutch)
States-General".
The name New Zealand originated with
Dutch
cartographers, who called the islands Nova
Zeelandia, after the Dutch
province of Zeeland
. No
one is certain exactly who first coined the term, but it first
appeared in 1645 and may have been the choice of cartographer
Johan Blaeu. British explorer
James Cook subsequently
anglicised the name to New Zealand.
There is no connection
to the Danish
island
Zealand
.
Although the North and South Islands have been known by these names
for many years, the
New
Zealand Geographic Board has stated that as of 2009, they have
no official names. The board intends to make these their official
names, along with alternative Māori names. Although several Māori
names have been used,
Maori
Language Commissioner Erima Henare sees Te Ika-a-Māui and Te
Wai Pounamu respectively as the most likely choices.
History
New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major landmasses.
The first settlers were Eastern
Polynesians who went to New Zealand, probably in
a series of migrations, sometime between around 700 and
2000 years ago. Over the following centuries these settlers
developed into a distinct culture now known as
Māori. The population was divided into
Iwi (tribes) and
hapū (subtribes)
which would cooperate, compete and sometimes fight with each other.
At some
point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands
where they developed their own distinct Moriori culture.
The first
European known to have
reached New Zealand were Dutch
explorer
Abel Janszoon Tasman and his crew in
1642. Māori killed several of the crew and no Europeans
returned to New Zealand until British explorer
James Cook's voyage of 1768–71. Cook reached New
Zealand in 1769 and mapped almost the entire coastline. Following
Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North
American
whaling,
sealing and trading ships. They traded European
food and goods, especially metal tools and weapons, for Māori
timber, food, artefacts and water. On occasion, Europeans traded
goods for sex. The
potato and the
musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare,
although the resulting
Musket Wars died
out once the tribal imbalance of arms had been rectified. From the
early nineteenth century, Christian
missionaries began to settle New Zealand,
eventually converting most of the Māori population, who had become
disillusioned with their indigenous faith by the introduction of
Western culture.
Becoming aware of the lawless nature of European settlement and
increasing interest in the territory by the French, the
British government sent
William Hobson to New Zealand to claim
sovereignty and negotiate a treaty with
Māori.
The
Treaty of Waitangi was first
signed in the Bay of
Islands
on 6 February 1840. The drafting was done
hastily and confusion and disagreement continues to surround the
translation. The Treaty however remains regarded as New Zealand's
foundation as a nation and is revered by Māori as a guarantee of
their rights.
Initially
under British rule, New Zealand had been part of the colony of
New South
Wales
. Hobson initially selected Okiato
as the
capital in 1840, before moving the seat of government to Auckland
in 1841, when New Zealand became a separate colony,
and there were increasing numbers of European settlers to New Zealand
particularly from the British Isles. At first, Māori were
eager to trade with the '
Pakeha', as they
called them, and many
iwi (tribes) became
wealthy. As settler numbers increased, conflicts over land led to
the
New Zealand Land Wars of
the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the loss of much Māori land. The
details of European settlement and the acquisition of land from
Māori remain controversial.

Representative government for the
colony was provided for by the passing of the
New Zealand Constitution Act
1852 by the United Kingdom. The
1st New Zealand Parliament met in
1854. In 1856 the colony became effectively self-governing with the
grant of responsible government over all domestic matters other
than native policy. Power in this respect would be transferred to
the colonial administration in the 1860s.
In 1863 Premier
Alfred Domett moved a resolution that
the capital transfer to a locality in Cook Strait
, apparently due to concern the South Island could
form a separate colony. Commissioners from Australia (chosen for
their neutral status) advised Wellington
as suitable because of its harbour and central
location, and parliament officially sat there for the first time in
1865. In 1893, the country became the first nation in the
world to grant
women the
right to vote. In 1907, New Zealand became a
Dominion within the
British Empire, and a independent
Commonwealth realm in 1947 when the
Statute of Westminster
was adopted, although in practice Britain had ceased to play any
real role in the government of New Zealand much earlier than this.
As New Zealand became more politically independent it became more
dependent economically; in the 1890s,
refrigerated shipping allowed New Zealand to
base its entire economy on the export of meat and
dairy products to Britain.
New Zealand was an enthusiastic member of the British Empire,
fighting in the
Boer War,
World War I and
World War II, especially in the
Battle of Britain, and supporting Britain
in the
Suez Crisis. The country was very
much a part of the
world economy and
suffered as others did in the
Great
Depression of the 1930s. The depression led to the election of
the
first Labour
government, which established a comprehensive
welfare state and a
protectionist economy.
Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following World War II.
However, some
social problems were
developing; Māori had begun to leave traditional rural life and
move to the cities in search of work. A
Māori protest movement would
eventually form, criticising
Eurocentrism and seeking more recognition of
Māori culture and the Treaty of
Waitangi, which they felt had not been fully honoured. In 1975 a
Waitangi Tribunal was set up to
investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and enabled to
investigate historic grievances in 1985. In common with all other
developed countries, social developments accelerated in the 1970s
and social and political mores changed. Britain's membership of the
European Economic
Community in 1973 drastically reduced access for New Zealand
exporters to largest market. This, along with the oil shocks of the
1970s, led to great economic and social changes during the 1980s
under the
4th
Labour government largely led by
Finance Minister Roger Douglas, and commonly referred to as
"
Rogernomics."
Politics
Government
New Zealand is a
constitutional
monarchy with a
parliamentary democracy. Although it
has no codified
constitution, the
Constitution Act 1986 is
the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional
structure. The constitution has been described as "largely
unwritten" and a "mixture of statutes and constitutional
convention."
Queen
Elizabeth II is the
head of state
and is titled
Queen of New
Zealand under the
Royal Titles
Act 1974. She is represented by the
Governor-General, whom she
appoints on the exclusive advice of the Prime Minister. The current
Governor-General is
Anand
Satyanand.
The Governor-General exercises the Crown's
prerogative powers, such as the power to
appoint and dismiss ministers and to dissolve Parliament, and in
rare situations, the
reserve powers.
The Governor-General also chairs the
Executive Council, which is
a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. The
main
constitutional function of the governor-general is to
"arrange for the leader of the majority political party to form a
government"; by constitutional convention, the governor-general
"acts on the advice of ministers who have majority support in
parliament." Members of the Executive Council are required to be
Members of Parliament, and most are also in
Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior
policy-making body and is led by the
Prime Minister, who is also,
by convention, the
Parliamentary
leader of the governing party or coalition. This is the highest
policymaking body in the government.
The
New Zealand Parliament
has only
one chamber, the
House of
Representatives, which usually seats 120
Members of Parliament.
Parliamentary general
elections are held every three years under a form of
proportional representation
called
Mixed Member
Proportional. The Economist magazine explains: "Under MMP
(Mixed Member Proportional) there is usually a 120-seat parliament;
an extra seat can sometimes be added to ensure truly proportional
representation. Of the total number of seats, 65 electorate
(directly elected constituency) seats are contested on the old
first-past-the-post basis, including seven seats reserved for the
indigenous Māori people. The remaining 55 or so seats are allocated
so that representation in parliament reflects overall support for
each party (the party vote). Under the MMP system, a party has
either to win a constituency seat or more than 5% of the total
party vote in order to gain representation in parliament. The
government can continue to rule only if it retains majority support
in the House of Representatives, or can secure the support of other
political parties to give it a majority to pass legislation and
survive parliamentary confidence votes." The
2008 General Election
created an '
overhang' of two extra
seats, occupied by the
Māori Party,
due to that party winning more seats in electorates than the number
of seats its proportion of the party vote would have given it.
From October 2005 until November 2008, the Labour-led government
was in formal coalition with the
Progressive Party,
Jim Anderton being its only MP. In addition,
New Zealand First and
United Future provided
confidence and supply in return for
their leaders being ministers outside cabinet. An arrangement was
also made with the
Green Party, which gave
a commitment not to vote against the government on
confidence and
supply. In 2007 Labour also had the
proxy vote of
Taito Phillip Field, a former Labour MP.
These arrangements assured the government of a majority of seven
MPs on confidence votes.
Labour was defeated by the
National Party in the general
elections of November 8, 2008. Following the victory, National
leader
John Key moved quickly to form a
government, negotiating coalition agreements with the right-wing
ACT party, led by
Rodney Hide, the centrist
United Future party, albeit with its single
seat held by leader
Peter Dunne, and the
Māori Party, led by
Tariana Turia and
Pita Sharples. Each of these leaders are to
hold ministerial posts but remain outside of Cabinet. There are
three parties in Opposition: the Labour Party, led by
Phil Goff; the
Greens, co-led by
Metiria Turei and
Russel Norman and the
Progressive Party, under
Jim Anderton.
The new executive was sworn in on 19 November 2008.
The highest court in New Zealand is the
Supreme Court of New Zealand,
established in 2004 following the passage of the Supreme Court Act
2003.
The
act abolished the option to appeal to the Privy
Council
in London
. The
current Chief Justice is
Dame Sian Elias.
New
Zealand's judiciary also includes the Court of
Appeal
; the High Court
, which deals with serious criminal offences and
civil matters at the trial level and with appeals from lower courts
and tribunals; and subordinate courts. While the Judiciary
can sometimes place limits on acts of Parliament, and the 1990 New
Zealand Bill of Rights enables some review by the Judiciary of
executive action, there is no document ascertaining formal power of
judicial review. Its constitutional independence from Parliament is
maintained by non-political appointments and strict rules regarding
tenure in office.
New Zealand is the only country in the world in which all the
highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by
women:
Queen Elizabeth
II,
Governor-General Dame
Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister
Helen Clark,
Speaker
of the
House of
Representatives Margaret Wilson
and
Chief Justice Dame
Sian Elias were all in office between March 2005
and August 2006. New Zealand's largest listed company,
Telecom New Zealand, had a woman –
Theresa Gattung – as its CEO at the
time.
Foreign relations and the military
New Zealand maintains a strong profile on
environmental protection,
human rights and
free
trade, particularly in
agriculture.
New Zealand is a member of
Commonwealth of Nations,
OECD,
Five
Powers Defence Arrangements,
APEC,
East Asia Summit, and the
United Nations. New
Zealand is party to a number of
free trade agreements, of
which the most important are the
China-New Zealand Free
Trade Agreement and
Closer
Economic Relations with Australia.
For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed the United
Kingdom's lead on foreign policy. In
declaring war on Germany on 3 September
1939, Prime Minister
Michael
Savage proclaimed, "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we
stand".
The two
world wars had a marked impact, with New Zealand losing many young
men in places like Gallipoli
(where the ANZAC tradition was formed with
Australia), Crete, El
Alamein
and Cassino
. New Zealand also played a key part with
Britain in the two famous battles, the naval Battle of
the River Plate
and the Battle of
Britain fought in the air. During the Pacific
part of World War II, the United States had more than 400,000
American military personnel stationed in New Zealand to prepare for
crucial battles such as Tarawa
, Guadalcanal
, Saipan and
Iwo
Jima
.
After the war the United States exerted an increased influence on
culture and the New Zealand people gained a clearer sense of
national identity. New Zealand joined
Australia and the United States in the
ANZUS
security treaty in 1951, and later fought alongside the
United States in both
the
Korean and the
Vietnam Wars. In contrast, the United Kingdom
became increasingly focused on its European interests following the
Suez Crisis, and New Zealand was forced
to develop new markets after the UK joined the
EEC in 1973.
New Zealand has traditionally worked closely with Australia, whose
foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. This close bond
was formed in
Gallipoli and is
part of the "
ANZAC spirit", which forms
a cornerstone in both countries.
In turn, many Pacific Islands such as Western Samoa
have looked to New Zealand's lead.
The
American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the
disillusionment with the Vietnam War, the sinking of
the Rainbow Warrior
by France (which Britain and the US failed to
criticise), and by disagreements over environmental and
agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free
policy.
While the ANZUS treaty was once fully mutual between Australia,
New Zealand and
the
United
States, this is no longer the case. In
February
1985, New Zealand refused
nuclear-powered or
nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. New
Zealand became a
Nuclear-free zone
in June 1987, the first Western-allied state to do so. In 1986 the
United States
announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to
New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The
New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act
1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the
territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of
nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source
of contention and the basis for the
United States' continued
suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand.
Within New Zealand, there have been various wars between
iwi, and between the British settlers and iwi.
New
Zealand has fought in the Second Boer
War, World War I, World War II, the Korean
War, the Malayan Emergency
(and committed troops, fighters and bombers to the subsequent
confrontation with Indonesia
), the Vietnam War, the
Gulf War and the Afghanistan
War. It has also sent a unit of army engineers to
help rebuild Iraqi
infrastructure for one year during the Iraq
War. In 2008 New Zealand forces are still active in
Afghanistan.
The
New Zealand Defence
Force has three branches: the
New
Zealand Army, the
Royal New
Zealand Navy and the
Royal New Zealand Air Force. New
Zealand considers its own
national
defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its
air combat capability in 2001.
New Zealand has
contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping
missions, including those in Cyprus
, Somalia
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, the Sinai
, Angola
, Cambodia
, the Iran
/Iraq
border,
Bougainville
, East
Timor
, and the Solomon Islands
.
Local government and external territories
The early European settlers divided New Zealand into
provinces. These were abolished in
1876 so that government could be centralised, for financial
reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented
subnational entities such as
provinces, states or territories, apart from local government.
However the spirit of the provinces lives on, and there is fierce
rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events. Since 1876,
local government has administered
the various regions of New Zealand. In 1989, the government
completely reorganised local government, implementing the current
two-tier structure of
regional
councils and
territorial
authorities constituted under the
Local Government Act
2002. In 1991, the
Resource Management Act 1991
replaced the Town and Country Planning Act as the main planning
legislation for local government.
New Zealand has 12
regional
councils for the administration of regional environmental and
transport matters and 73 territorial authorities that administer
roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The
territorial authorities are 16
city
councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands
Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three
districts) and the Chatham Islands Council also perform the
functions of a
regional
council and are known as
unitary
authorities. Territorial authority districts are not
subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them
straddle regional council boundaries.
The
regions are (asterisks denote
unitary authorities): Northland
, Auckland
, Waikato
, Bay of
Plenty
, Gisborne
*, Hawke's Bay
, Taranaki
, Manawatu-Wanganui
, Wellington
, Marlborough
*, Nelson
*, Tasman
*, West Coast
, Canterbury
, Otago, Southland
, Chatham Islands
*.
As a
major South
Pacific
nation, New Zealand has a close working
relationship with many Pacific Island
nations, and continues a political association with the Cook Islands
, Niue
and Tokelau
.
New
Zealand operates Scott
Base
in its Antarctic
territory, the Ross
Dependency. Other countries also use Christchurch to
support their Antarctic bases and the city is sometimes known as
the "Gateway to Antarctica".
Geography and environment
New Zealand comprises two main islands, the North and South
Islands,
Te Ika a Maui and
Te Wai Pounamu
respectively in
Māori, and a
number of
smaller islands,
located near the centre of the
water
hemisphere.
Cook Strait
, 20 kilometres wide at its narrowest point,
separates the North and South Islands. The total land area,
268,680 square kilometres (103,738
sq mi), is a little less than that of Italy
or Japan, and a little more than the United Kingdom. The country
extends more than 1600 km (1000 mi) along its main,
north-north-east axis, with approximately of coastline.
The most
significant of the smaller inhabited islands include Stewart
Island/Rakiura
; Waiheke
Island
, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf
; Great Barrier Island
, east of the Hauraki Gulf; and the Chatham
Islands
, named Rēkohu by Moriori. The country has extensive marine
resources, with the seventh-largest
Exclusive Economic Zone in the
world, covering over four million square kilometres (1.5 million
square miles), more than 15 times its land area.
The
South
Island
is the largest land mass of
New Zealand, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps
, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount
Cook
at 3754 metres (12,320 ft). There
are 18 peaks over 3000 metres (9843 ft) in the South
Island.
The North Island
is less mountainous but is marked by
volcanism. The highest North Island mountain, Mount Ruapehu
(2797 m, 9177 ft), is an active cone
volcano. The dramatic and varied
landscape of New Zealand has made it a popular location for the
production of
television
programmes and
films, including the
Lord of the
Rings trilogy and the
The
Last Samurai.
The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its
emergence above the waves, to the
dynamic boundary it straddles between the
Pacific and
Indo-Australian Plates. New Zealand is
part of
Zealandia, a continent
nearly half the size of Australia that is otherwise almost
completely submerged. About 25 million years ago, a shift in
plate tectonic movements began to
pull Zealandia apart forcefully, with this now being most evident
along the
Alpine Fault and in the
highly active
Taupo volcanic
zone.
The tectonic
boundary continues as subduction
zones east of the North Island
along the Hikurangi
Trench to continue north of New Zealand along the Kermadec
Trench
and the Tonga Trench
which is mirrored in the south by the Puysegur Trench.
New Zealand is culturally and linguistically part of
Polynesia, and is the south-western anchor of the
Polynesian Triangle.
The latitude of New Zealand, from approximately 34 to 47° S,
corresponds closely to that of Italy in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, its isolation from continental influences and exposure to
cold southerly winds and ocean currents give the climate a much
milder character.The
climate throughout the
country is mild and
temperate, mainly
maritime, with temperatures rarely
falling below 0
°C (32
°F) or rising above 30 °C (86 °F) in
populated areas.
Historical maxima and minima are 42.4 °C
(108.3 °F) in Rangiora
, Canterbury
and −21.6 °C (−6.9 °F) in Ophir
, Otago. Conditions vary
sharply across regions from extremely wet on the West
Coast
of the South Island
to semi-arid (Köppen BSh)
in the Mackenzie Basin of inland
Canterbury
and subtropical in
Northland
. Of the main cities, Christchurch is the
driest, receiving only 640 mm (25 in) of rain per year;
Auckland
, the wettest, receives almost twice that
amount. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all receive a
yearly average in excess of 2000 hours of sunshine. The southern
and south-western parts of South Island have a cooler and cloudier
climate, with around 1400–1600 hours; the northern and
north-eastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas of
the country and receive approximately 2400–2500 hours.
Biodiversity
Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world and its
island
biogeography, New Zealand has
extraordinary
flora and
fauna, descended from
Gondwanan wildlife or since arriving by flying,
swimming or being carried across
the sea. About 80% of New Zealand's flora is endemic, including 65
endemic genera. The two main types of forest are those
dominated by
podocarps and/or the giant
kauri, and in cooler climates the
southern beech. The remaining
vegetation types in New Zealand are grasslands of
tussock and other grasses, usually in
sub-alpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and
forests.
Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was
forested. Until 2006 it was thought that there were
no non-marine native
mammals, barring three
species of
bat (one now extinct). However in
2006 scientists discovered bones that belonged to a long-extinct
unique, mouse-sized
land animal in the
Otago region of the South Island. A diverse
range of
megafauna inhabited New Zealand's
forests, including the
flightless
moas (now extinct), four species of
kiwi, the
kakapo and the
takahē, all endangered by human actions.
Unique birds capable of flight included the
Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest
bird of prey (now extinct), and the
large
kākā and
kea
parrots. Reptiles present in New Zealand
include
skinks,
geckos
and
living fossil tuatara. There are four endemic species of
primitive frogs. There are no
snakes and there is only one
venomous spider, the
katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal
regions. There are many endemic species of insect, including the
weta, one species of which may grow as large as
a
house mouse and is the heaviest insect
in the world.
New Zealand has suffered a high rate of extinctions, including the
moa, the
huia,
laughing owl and flightless wrens (which
occupied the roles elsewhere occupied by mice). This is due to
human activities such as hunting, and pressure from introduced
feral animals, such as
weasels,
stoats,
cats,
goats,
deer and
brushtailed
possums. Five indigenous vascular plant species are now
believed to be extinct, including Adam's mistletoe and a species of
forget-me-not.
New Zealand has led the world in
island restoration projects, where
offshore islands are cleared of introduced mammalian pests and
native species are reintroduced.
Several islands located near to the three main islands are wildlife
reserves where common pests such as possums and rodents have been
eradicated to allow the reintroduction of
endangered species to the islands. A more
recent development is the mainland
ecological island.
Economy
New Zealand has a modern, prosperous,
developed economy with an estimated GDP
(PPP) of
$115.624 billion (2008). The
country has a relatively high
standard of living with an estimated GDP
per capita of $27,017 in 2008, comparable to Southern Europe. Since
2000 New Zealand has made substantial gains in
median
household income. New Zealand, along with Australia, largely
escaped the
early 2000s
recession that affected most other Western countries. However
GDP fell in all four quarters of 2008.
New Zealanders have a high level of life satisfaction as measured
by international surveys; this is despite lower GDP per-head levels
than many other OECD countries. The country was ranked 20th on the
2008
Human Development Index
and 15th in
The Economist's
2005 worldwide quality-of-life index. The country was ranked 1st in
life satisfaction and 5th in overall prosperity in the 2007 Legatum
Institute prosperity index. In addition, the 2009
Mercer Quality of Living Survey
ranked Auckland 4th place and Wellington 12th place in the world on
its list.
Taxation in New
Zealand is lighter than in other OECD countries. New Zealand is
one of the most
free market capitalist economies according to
economic freedom
indices.
The
service sector is
the largest sector in the economy (68.8% of GDP), followed by
manufacturing and
construction (26.9% of GDP) and the
farming/raw materials extraction
(4.3% of GDP).
New Zealand is a country heavily dependent on
free trade, particularly in agricultural
products. Exports account for around 24% of its
output, which is a relatively high figure
(it is around 50% for many smaller European countries). This makes
New Zealand particularly vulnerable to international commodity
prices and global
economic slowdowns. Its
principal export industries are agriculture,
horticulture,
fishing and forestry. These
make up about half of the country's exports. Its major export
partners are Australia 20.5%, US 13.1%, Japan 10.3%, China 5.4%, UK
4.9% (2006).
Tourism plays a
significant role in New Zealand's economy. Tourism contributes
$12.8 billion (or 8.9%) to New Zealand’s total GDP and supports
nearly 200,000
full-time
equivalent jobs (9.9% of the total workforce in New Zealand).
Tourists to New Zealand are expected to increase at a rate of 4%
annually up to 2013.
The
New Zealand dollar is the
currency of New Zealand.
It also circulates in the Cook Islands
(see also Cook
Islands dollar), Niue
, Tokelau
, and the
Pitcairn
Islands
. It is sometimes informally known as the
"Kiwi dollar".
The Economist magazine's outlook for New Zealand (2009) foresees
the government's fiscal position to remain tenuous because of "weak
revenue growth and rising expenditure". Government debt is expected
to balloon from 25% (2008) to 40% (2013). GDP growth will contract
in 2009 by 2.6%, then average 2.2% from 2010 to 2013 (although
there are "downside risks" which may hamper this growth).
Government will continue to pursue foreign trade. Inflation will be
1.4% in 2009, 1.3% in 2010 and average 2.3% from 2011 to 2013. The
New Zealand dollar is expected to weaken against the dollar through
2010, but begin strengthening again beginning 2011 (but the report
notes that exchange rates are volatile and hard to predict). The
study doesn't see a change of government from the centre-right
National Party until possibly 2011.
Recent history
Historically New Zealand enjoyed a high standard of living which
relied on its strong relationship with the United Kingdom, and the
resulting stable market for its commodity exports. New Zealand's
economy was also built upon on a narrow range of primary products,
such as wool, meat and dairy products. High demand for these
products – such as the
New Zealand
wool boom of 1951 created sustained periods of economic
prosperity. However, in 1973 the United Kingdom joined the
European Community which effectively
ended this particularly close economic relationship between the two
countries. During the 1970s other factors such as the oil crises
(
1973 and
1979) undermined the viability of the New
Zealand economy; which for periods before 1973 had achieved levels
of living standards exceeding both Australia and
Western Europe.These events led to a
protracted and very severe
economic
crisis, during which living standards in New Zealand fell
behind those of Australia and Western Europe, and by 1982 New
Zealand was the lowest in
per-capita
income of all the developed nations surveyed by
the World Bank.
Since 1984, successive governments have engaged in major
macroeconomic restructuring, transforming New
Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a
liberalised
free-trade economy. These
changes are commonly known as
Rogernomics and
Ruthanasia after
Finance Ministers Roger Douglas and
Ruth Richardson. A recession began after the
1987 share market crash and
caused unemployment to reach 10% in the early 1990s. Subsequently
the economy recovered and New Zealand’s unemployment rate reached a
record low of 3.4% in the December 2007 quarter, ranking fifth from
twenty-seven OECD nations with comparable data. In 2009, New
Zealand's economy ranked as the fifth freest in the world according
the
Heritage Foundation's
Index of Economic
Freedom.
The current government's economic objectives are centred on
pursuing
free-trade agreements and
building a "
knowledge economy". On
7 April 2008, New Zealand and China signed the
New Zealand China Free
Trade Agreement, the first such agreement China has signed with
a developed country. Ongoing economic challenges for New Zealand
include a
current account deficit of
7.9% of GDP, slow development of non-commodity exports and tepid
growth of labour productivity. New Zealand has experienced a series
of "
brain drains" since the 1970s, as
well as educated youth leaving permanently for Australia, Britain
or the United States. "Kiwi lifestyle" and family/
whanau factors motivates some of the expatriates to
return, while career, culture, and economic factors tend to be
predominantly 'push' components, keeping these people overseas. In
recent years, however, a
brain gain
brought in educated professionals from poor countries, as well as
Europe, as permanent settlers.
In 2003 New Zealand decriminalised the sex trade, and the bold
experiment seems to be succeeding. The Economist magazine cited the
New Zealand system as the world's "fairest", which allows sex
workers to ply their trade more or less freely at home or in
brothels or on the street. The new system protects prostitutes from
violence while preventing abuse from brothel owners. "In New
Zealand, prostitutes can fend for themselves" while in nations like
the United States, brothel-owners have more power. A government
report reckoned "only about 1% of women in the business were under
the legal age of 18". The report noted New Zealand had particular
advantages – "the country’s isolation and robust legal system make
it relatively free from the problem of trafficking".
Since 2000, New Zealand's fashion industry has grown significantly,
doubling exports within a ten year period, according the The
Economist magazine. The nation now has "a vibrant and steadily
expanding fashion industry, with some 50 established labels, up
from a handful ten years ago, half of which sell abroad." Much of
this activity is based in Auckland. Clothing exports in 2007 were
$315 million, up from $194 million ten years earlier. This is a
remarkable turnabout for a nation which has had a reputation for
lackluster fashion – "Visiting diplomats have remarked upon the
penchant among New Zealand women for short haircuts, backpacks and
sensible shoes ... One ambassador accused them of dressing like
soldiers; another said they looked as though they were going to a
funeral."
Energy production
Sixty-five per cent of electricity in New Zealand is generated with
renewable energy,
primarily hydropower (52%) and
geothermal power (9%) (2008
data).
Agriculture
Agriculture has been and continues to be the main export industry
in New Zealand. In the year to June 2007, dairy products accounted
for 21% ($7.5 billion) of total merchandise exports, and the
largest company of the country,
Fonterra, a
dairy
cooperative, controls almost
one-third of the international dairy trade. Other agricultural
items were meat 13.2%, wood 6.3%, fruit 3.5% and fishing 3.3%. New
Zealand also has a thriving
wine
industry, which had a bumper year in 2007; wine became New
Zealand's "12th most valuable export" in that year, overtaking wool
exports.
Livestock are rarely housed, but are
sometimes fed small quantities of supplements such as hay and
silage, particularly in winter. Grass growth is seasonal, largely
dependent on location and climatic fluctuations but normally occurs
for between 8–12 months of the year. Stock are grazed in paddocks,
often with moveable
electric fencing
around the farm. Lambing and calving are carefully managed to take
full advantage of spring grass growth.
In 1984 the
New Zealand Labour
Party ended all
farm
subsidies.
Demography
- Ethnicity and Immigration

New Zealand's historical population
(black) and projected growth (red).
Historic population |
Year |
Population |
1850 |
131,900 |
1871 |
256,300 |
1900 |
802,200 |
1910 |
1,040,500 |
1920 |
1,242,400 |
1930 |
1,493,000 |
1940 |
1,637,300 |
1950 |
1,909,100 |
1960 |
2,377,000 |
1970 |
2,819,600 |
1980 |
3,144,000 |
1990 |
3,362,500 |
2000 |
3,832,900 |
2009 |
4,319,932 |
2015est |
4,492,000 |
2025est |
4,831,000 |
2050est |
5,349,000 |
New Zealand has a population of about 4.3 million, of which
approximately 78% identify with
European ethnic groups. New
Zealanders of European descent are collectively known as
Pākehā; this term
generally refers to New Zealanders of European descent but some
Māori use it to refer to all non-Māori
New Zealanders.
Most European New Zealanders are of British
and Irish ancestry,
although there has been significant Dutch, Dalmatian,
Italian, and German immigration together with indirect European
immigration through Australia, North America, South
America and South Africa.
"Peoples"> According to the 2006 census projections, by
2026 European children will make up 64% of all New Zealand
children, compared with 73% in 2006. Māori children will make up
29%, from 24% in 2006, and Asian and Pacific children will make up
about 18% each, compared with 9% and 12% in 2006, respectively. The
fertility rate as of March 2009 was
2.2 per woman, compared to approximately 2 for the previous 30
years, with the total number of births higher than at any point
since 1961. A second fertility estimate was 2.02 children per
woman. The fertility rate is expected to decline over the next
forty years, according to one estimate. The life expectancy of a
child born in 2008 was 81.9 years for a girl, and 77.9 years for a
boy. Life expectancy at birth (males and females) is forecast to
increase from 80 years to 85 years in 2050. Further, infant
mortality is expected to decline substantially from 2009 to 2050.
While the overall population is expected to grow to 5,349,000 in
2050, the median age (half younger, half older) will rise from 36
years in 2009 to 43 years in 2050 and the percentage of people
sixty years of age and older will rise from 18% (2009) to 29%
(2050).
Fertility, life expectancy, infant mortality projections
|
|
2005–2010 |
2010–2015 |
2015–2020 |
2020–2025 |
2045–2050 |
Fertility (children per woman) |
|
|
|
|
|
Life expectancy at birth (years) |
|
|
|
|
|
Infant deaths per 1000 live births |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indigenous
Māori people are the largest
non-European ethnic group, accounting for 14.6% of the population
in the 2006 census. While people could select more than one
ethnic group, slightly more
than half (53%) of all Māori residents identified solely as Māori.
People identifying with
Asian ethnic
groups account for 9.2% of the population, increasing from 6.6% in
the 2001 census, while 6.9% of people are of
Pacific Island origin. (These percentages add
to more than 100% because people can identify with more than one
ethnic group.)
New Zealand immigration
policy is relatively open; its government is committed to
increasing its population by about 1% annually. In 2008–09, a
target of 45,000 was set by the New Zealand immigration Service
(plus a 5,000 tolerance). Twenty-three percent of the population
was born overseas, one of the highest rates in the world.
At
present, immigrants from the United
Kingdom and Ireland
constitute the largest single group, accounting for
29% of those born overseas but immigrants are drawn from many
nations, and increasingly from East Asia
(mostly mainland China, but with
substantial numbers also from Korea
, Taiwan
, Japan,
and Hong
Kong
).For the percentages:
For further detail within East Asia:
While the
demonym is New Zealander, New
Zealanders informally call themselves
Kiwis.
- Languages
Until 1987, English was New Zealand's only official language, and
remains predominant in most settings; Māori became an official
language under the 1987
Māori
Language Act and
New
Zealand Sign Language under the
2006 New
Zealand Sign Language Act. The two official spoken languages
are also the most widely used; English is spoken by 98% of the
population and Māori by 4.1%. Samoan is the most widely spoken
non-official language (2.3%), followed by French, Hindi, Yue and
Northern Chinese.
New Zealand has an adult literacy rate of 99%, and 14.2% of the
adult population has a
bachelor's
degree or higher. For 30.4% of the population, some form of
secondary qualification is their highest, while 22.4% of New
Zealanders have no formal qualification.
- Religion
According to the 2006 census,
Christianity is the predominant
religion in New Zealand, held by
55.6% of the population, a decrease from 60.6% at the 2001 census.
Another 34.7% indicated that they had no religion, up from 29.6% in
2001, and 5% affiliated with other religions. The main
Christian denominations are
Anglicanism,
Roman
Catholicism,
Presbyterianism
and
Methodism. There
are also significant numbers who identify themselves with
Pentecostal and
Baptist churches and with the
LDS
church. The New Zealand-based
Ratana church
has adherents among Māori. According to
census figures, other
significant minority religions include
Hinduism,
Buddhism, and
Islam.
- Other Statistics
In a survey of the OECD amongst 30 democratic nations, New Zealand
ranked an above-average 8th place in terms of the happiness of its
populace (defined by the averaged responses to questions about
personal contentment and positive feelings experienced recently)
even though the country was noted as ranking relatively low amongst
the surveyed nations in personal wealth (defined by averaged
personal income).
New
Zealand is a predominantly urban country, with 72% of the
population living in 16 main urban areas
and 53% living in the four largest cities of Auckland
, Christchurch
, Wellington
, and Hamilton
.
Culture

px
Overview
Much of
contemporary New Zealand
culture is derived from British
roots. It also includes significant
influences from American, Australian and
Māori cultures, along with those of other
European cultures and – more recently – non-Māori
Polynesian and
Asian cultures. Large festivals in
celebration of
Diwali and
Chinese New Year are held in several of the
larger centres.
The world's largest Polynesian festival,
Pasifika, is an annual event in Auckland
. Cultural links between New Zealand and the
United Kingdom are maintained by a common language, sustained
migration from the United Kingdom, and many young New Zealanders
spending time in the United Kingdom on their "
overseas experience" (OE). The
music and
cuisine of New Zealand are similar to
that of Australia, Canada, UK, and the US, although both have
distinct New Zealand and Pacific qualities.
Māori culture has undergone
considerable change since the arrival of Europeans; in particular
the introduction of
Christianity in the
early 19th century brought about fundamental change in
everyday life. Nonetheless the perception that
most Māori now live similar lifestyles to their
Pākehā neighbours is a superficial one. In
fact, Māori culture has significant differences, for instance the
important role which the
marae and the
extended family continue to play in communal and family life. As in
traditional times, Māori habitually perform karakia to ensure the
favourable outcome of important undertakings, but today the prayers
used are generally Christian. Māori still regard their allegiance
to tribal groups as a vital part of
personal identity, and Māori
kinship roles resemble
those of other
Polynesian peoples. As part of the resurgence of Māori culture
that came to the fore in the late 20th century, the tradition-based
arts of
kapa haka (song and dance),
carving and weaving are now more widely practiced, and the
architecture of the marae maintains strong links to traditional
forms. Māori also value their connections to Polynesia, as attested
by the increasing popularity of
waka ama (outrigger
canoe racing), which is now an international
sport involving teams from all over the Pacific.
Te Reo Māori
Use of the Māori language (
Te Reo
Māori) as a living, community language remained only in a few
remote areas in the post-war years, but is currently undergoing a
process of revitalization,
thanks in part to Māori language immersion schools and two
Māori Television channels. This is the
only nationwide
television
channel to have the majority of its
prime-time content delivered in Māori, primarily
because only 4% of the population speak Te Reo Māori. However,
partly in recognition of the importance of Māori culture to New
Zealand, the language was declared one of New Zealand's official
languages in 1987.
Film Industry
Although films have been made in New Zealand since the 1920s, it
was only from the 1970s that
New
Zealand films began to be produced in significant numbers.
Films such as
Sleeping
Dogs and
Goodbye Pork
Pie achieved local success and launched the careers of
actors and directors including
Sam Neill,
Geoff Murphy and
Roger Donaldson. In the early 1990s, New
Zealand films such as
Jane Campion's
Academy Award-winning film
The Piano,
Lee Tamahori's
Once Were Warriors and
Peter Jackson's
Heavenly Creatures began to garner
international acclaim. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jackson
filmed
The Lord
of the Rings film trilogy in New Zealand, using mostly New
Zealand crew and
extras.
Whale Rider, originally a novel by
Witi Ihimaera, was produced in 2002 and
received recognition from various festivals and awards. New Zealand
features as a primary or additional location for many international
productions, examples include
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
Bridge to
Terabithia and
Kaho
Naa... Pyaar
Hai.
Media
The New Zealand
media industry is
dominated by a small number of companies, most of which are
foreign-owned, although the state
retains ownership of some television and radio stations. New
Zealand television broadcasts mostly American and British
programming, along with a small number of Australian and New
Zealand shows.
The
Broadcasting
Standards Authority and the
New Zealand Press Council can
investigate allegations of bias and inaccuracy in the broadcast and
print media. Combined with New Zealand's
libel laws, this means that the New Zealand
news media is fairly tame by
international standards, but also reasonably fair and
impartial. New Zealand receives high rankings in
press freedom. Between 2003 and 2008,
Reporters Without Borders
has consistently ranked the country in the top twenty, placing it
seventh in 2008.
Sports
Sport has a major role in New Zealand's culture, with the
unofficial national sport of
rugby union
being particularly influential. Other popular participatory sports
include
cricket,
bowls,
netball,
soccer,
motorsport,
golf,
swimming and
tennis.
New Zealand has strong international teams in several sports
including rugby union, netball, cricket,
rugby league, and
softball. New Zealand also has traditionally done
well in the sports of
rowing,
yachting and
cycling. The
country is internationally recognised for performing well on a
medals-to-population ratio at
Olympic
Games and
Commonwealth
Games.
Rugby union, commonly
referred to as
rugby, is closely linked to the country's
national identity. The national rugby team, the
All Blacks, has the
best win to loss record of any national team, and is well known for
the
haka (a traditional
Māori challenge) performed before the
start of international matches.
Rugby league is also widely
played in New Zealand. The
New
Zealand Warriors compete in the Australian
NRL competition, and in 2008 the
national side, the
Kiwis, won the
Rugby League World Cup.
Cricket was introduced to New
Zealand in the 1800s and is reputedly the second most popular sport
in the country, with one source stating there are 98,000 registered
cricket players. The New Zealand team is known as the
Blackcaps and the national
women's team is the
White Ferns.
Horse racing is a
popular
spectator sport which has
spawned such national icons as
Cardigan Bay and
Phar Lap, and was part of the traditional "Rugby,
Racing and Beer" culture.
New Zealand is also well known for its
extreme sports and
adventure tourism. Its reputation in
extreme sports extends from the establishment of the world's first
commercial
bungy jumping site at
Queenstown in the South Island in November 1988.
Mountaineering is
also popular, with the country's most famous climber being the late
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first
person to reach the summit of Mount Everest
.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Allan, H.H. (1982) Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida,
Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons, Flora of New Zealand Volume I. Botany
Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
- Clark, R. (1994) Moriori and Māori: The Linguistic
Evidence. In Sutton, Douglas G. (Ed.) (1994), The Origins
of the First New Zealanders. Auckland: Auckland
University
Press.
- Davenport, Sally. " Panic and panacea: brain drain and science and technology
human capital policy" Research Policy 33 (2004)
617–630. Accessed 2007-04-24.
- Mackay, D. (1986) The Search For The Southern Land. In
Fraser, B. (Ed.) (1986), The New Zealand Book Of Events.
Auckland: Reed Methuen.
Further reading
- David Bateman, ed. Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia
(2005)
- Keith Sinclair and Raewyn
Dalziel. A History of New Zealand (2000)
- A. H. McLintock, ed. Encyclopedia of New Zealand 3
vols (1966)
- New Zealand Official Yearbook (annual)
Notes
- Explanatory notes
- Citations
- Mein Smith (2005) pg 6.
- King (2003) pg 41.
- The Discovery of New Zealand
- Discovery of New Zealand
- Mackay (1986) pg 52–54.
- Isaac Davison, North and South Islands officially nameless,
New Zealand Herald, 22 April 2009. Accessed 22 April
2009.
- Mein Smith (2005), pg 6.
- Sutton et al. (2008), pg 109. "This paper ... affirms
the Long Chronology [first settlement up to 2000 years BP],
recognizing it as the most plausible hypothesis."
- Clark (1994) pg 123–135
- Mein Smith (2005), pg 23.
- King (2003) pg 122.
- Peggy Brock, ed. Indigenous Peoples and Religious
Change. Leiden: Brill, 2005. ISBN 978-90-04-13899-5. pages
67-69
- Patman (2005) pg 8.
- Lange (1990).
- Lindsey (2000) pg 14.
- NZPCN (2006). New Zealand indigenous vascular plant checklist.
ISBN 0-473-11306-6. Written by P.J. de Lange, J.W.D. Sawyer and
J.R. Rolfe
- Survey: New Zealand recession may end late
2009. News.moneycentral.msn.com. July 6, 2009.
- GDP confirms NZ bogged down in recession, One
News, TVNZ, 27 March 2009. Accessed 4 March 2009.
- 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand - standard of
living comparison table
- Up from down under; National Review
article
- New Zealand, 2009 Index
of Economic Freedom, Heritage Foundation.
- Davenport (2004).
- Inkson (2004).
- Winkelmann (2000).
- Bain (2006) pg 44.
- Frequently Asked Questions, Fonterra website.
Accessed 2008-02-20.
- 19th century data may include the Māori population, but the
figures of the indigenous population are estimates.
- Walrond (2007).
- National Ethnic Population Projections: 2006 (base)
- 2026 The figures add up to more than 100% due to ethnic
overlap.
-
http://www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/hot-off-the-press/births-and-deaths/births-and-deaths-mar09qtr-hotp.htm
- World's Happiest Places- Forbes.com, 05 May
2009
- Māori Language Week - Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (from the
'nzhistory.net.nz' website, operated by the New Zealand
Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Accessed 2008-02-22.)
- Zavos (2007).
- New Zealand Herald - League: Kiwis conjure up World
Cup miracle
- Bain (2006), pg 69.
External links
- Government
- General information
- Other
- Travel