New Zealand

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New Zealand Aotearoa
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "God Defend New Zealand" "God Save the King"[n 1]
The hemisphere centred on New Zealand
Capital	Wellington 41°17′S 174°27′E / 41.283°S 174.450°E / -41.283; 174.450
Largest city	Auckland
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
• Governor-General	Dame Cindy Kiro
• Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Independence  from the United Kingdom[n 4]
• New Zealand Constitution Act 1852	17 January 1853
• Dominion	26 September 1907
• Statute of Westminster	11 December 1931 (adopted 25 November 1947)
• Constitution Act 1986	13 December 1986
Area
• Total	268,021 km2 (103,483 sq mi) (75th)
• Water (%)	1.6[n 5]
Population
• September 2011 estimate	4,414,400[6] (124th)
• 2006 census	4,027,947[7]
• Density	16.5/km2 (42.7/sq mi) (202nd)
GDP (PPP)	2011 estimate
• Total	$120.2 billion[8] (61st)
• Per capita	$27,217[8] (32nd)
GDP (nominal)	2011 estimate
• Total	$157.877 billion[8] (51st)
• Per capita	$35,374[8] (24th)
Gini (1997)	36.2[9] medium
HDI (2011)	0.908[10] 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.

The current capital city of the country is Wellington, and the largest city is Auckland. Both of these cities are on the North Island. The largest city on the South Island is Christchurch.

The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand sign language. English has never been granted official language status in the NZ laws, but it is used as a default official language due to its wide usage.

In 2010, the New Zealand Herald said that New Zealand was the 8th happiest country in the world.^[11]

1. ↑ "New Zealand's National Anthems". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
2. ↑ "Protocol for using New Zealand's National Anthems". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
3. ↑ "QuickStats About Culture and Identity: Languages spoken". Statistics New Zealand. March 2006. Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
4. ↑ Didham, Robert; Potter, Deb; Allan, Jo-anne (April 2005). Understanding and Working with Ethnicity Data (PDF). Statistics New Zealand. ISBN 9780478315059. Archived from the original on 25 November 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
5. ↑ "The New Zealand Land Cover Database". New Zealand Land Cover Database 2. New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. 1 July 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
6. ↑ "National Population Estimates: September 2011 quarter". Statistics New Zealand. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
7. ↑ "QuickStats About New Zealand's Population and Dwellings: Population counts". 2006 Census. Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} "New Zealand". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
9. ↑ "Equality and inequality: Gini index". Human Development Report 2009. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 17 October 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
10. ↑ "Human Development Report 2011" (PDF). United Nations. January 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
11. ↑ "NZ eighth happiest country in the world". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 17 July 2015.