KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1931 (Statute of Westminster)
Population: 4,460,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.3% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 6
Official languages: English, Maori
Time: GMT plus 12–13hr
Currency: New Zealand dollar (NZ$)
Geography
Area: 270,500 sq km
Coastline: 15,130 km
Capital: Wellington
New Zealand’s Maori name is Aotearoa, meaning ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. A well-watered and fertile mountainous island country in the South Pacific, New Zealand consists of two large islands (North Island and South Island), Stewart Island and a number of offshore islands. It is somewhat isolated, being about 1,600 km east of Australia, the nearest land mass. Other neighbouring countries are Vanuatu and Tonga.
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 16
Life expectancy: 81 years
Net primary enrolment: 99% (2011)
Population:
4,460,000 (2012); 86 per cent of people live in urban areas and 32 per cent in urban agglomerations of more than one million people; growth 1.2 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 14 per 1,000 people (22 in 1970); life expectancy 81 years (71 in 1970). The 2006 census recorded 2,609,592 people of European origin (65 per cent); 565,329 people of Polynesian (Maori) descent (14 per cent); 265,974 Pacific Island Polynesians (6.6 per cent), mostly from Samoa (131,103), Cook Islands (56,895) and Tonga (50,478); some 139,728 Chinese (3.5 per cent); and 97,443 Indians (2.4 per cent). About 75 per cent of people live in North Island, of which the average population density is 24 per sq km (South Island: six per sq km).
Language:
English and Maori are the official languages and many information documents are also translated into Polynesian.
Education:
Public spending on education was seven per cent of GDP in 2011. There are 12 years of compulsory education starting at the age of five. Primary school comprises six years and secondary seven, with cycles of four and three years. The school year starts in January. Universities New Zealand recognises eight government-funded universities with a total student enrolment of about 180,000 in 2011: the Auckland University of Technology; Lincoln University (near Christchurch, South Island); Massey University (campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North and Wellington); University of Auckland; University of Canterbury (at Christchurch, South Island); University of Otago (main campus at Dunedin, South Island); University of Waikato (main campus at Hamilton); and Victoria University of Wellington. There are many colleges of education across the country and the University of Waikato has its own School of Education. The tertiary sector also includes 20 institutes of technology and polytechnics, all offering degree courses. The Maori Education Trust – established in 1961 as the Maori Education Foundation – awards scholarships and grants to encourage Maori into tertiary education. The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 1.50:1 (2010). There is virtually no illiteracy among people aged 15–24.
