Fun Easy English - Travel abroad New Zealand.

OFFICIAL NAME: New Zealand

COUNTRY DESCRIPTION

New Zealand is a highly developed, stable parliamentary democracy, which recognizes the British monarch as sovereign. It has a modern economy, and tourist facilities are widely available.

The New Zealand Tourist Board, which has a wide range of information of interest to travelers, can be contacted via the Internet at http://www.newzealand.com/.

PEOPLE

Most of the 4 million New Zealanders are of British origin. About 15% claim descent from the indigenous Maori population, which is of Polynesian origin. Nearly 76% of the people, including a large majority of Maori, live on the North Island. In addition, 265,974 Pacific peoples live in New Zealand. During the late 1870s, natural increase permanently replaced immigration as the chief contributor to population growth and accounted for more than 75% of population growth in the 20th century. Nearly 85% of New Zealand's population lives in urban areas (with almost one-third in Auckland alone), where the service and manufacturing industries are growing rapidly. New Zealanders colloquially refer to themselves as "Kiwis," after the country's native bird.

ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS

U.S. citizens eligible for a visa waiver do not need a visa for tourist stays of three months or less. For more information about visa waivers and entry requirements, contact the Embassy of New Zealand, 37 Observatory Circle, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008, telephone (202) 328-4800, http://www.nzemb.org or the Consulate General of New Zealand in Los Angeles, 2425 Olympic Blvd Suite 600E, Santa Monica, CA 90404, telephone (310) 566 6555, http://www.nzcgla.com.

QUICK FACTS

Geography
Area: 270,500 sq. km.; about the size of Colorado.
Cities (December 2006): Capital--Wellington (450,600). Other cities--Auckland (1,237,239), Christchurch (338,748), Hamilton (130,000).
Terrain: Highly varied, from snowcapped mountains to lowland plains.
Climate: Temperate to subtropical.

People
Nationality: Noun--New Zealander(s). Adjective--New Zealand.
Population (2006): 4,181,175.
Annual growth rate (December 2006): 1.1%.
Ethnic groups: European 67.6%, Maori 14.6%, other Polynesian 6.5%, Asian 9.2%.
Religions: Anglican 15.2%, Roman Catholic 12.6%, Presbyterian 10.8%.
Languages: English, Maori, New Zealand Sign Language.
Education: Years compulsory--ages 6-16. Attendance--100%. Literacy--99%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (December 2006)--5.1/1,000. Life expectancy (December 2006)--males 76.3 yrs., females 82.3 yrs.
Work force (December 2006, 1.16 million): Services and government--59%; manufacturing and construction--32%; agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining--8.9%.

Government
Type: Parliamentary.
Constitution: No formal, written constitution.
Independence: Declared a dominion in 1907.
Branches: Executive--Queen Elizabeth II (chief of state, represented by a governor general), prime minister (head of government), cabinet. Legislative--unicameral House of Representatives, commonly called parliament. Judicial--four-level system: District Courts, High Courts, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court, which in 2004 replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London as New Zealand's highest court of appeal. There also are specialized courts, such as employment court, family courts, youth courts, and the Maori Land Court.
Administrative subdivisions: 12 regions with directly elected councils and 74 districts (15 of which are designated as cities) with elected councils. There also are a number of community boards and special-purpose bodies with partially elected, partially appointed memberships.
Political parties: Labour, National, Progressive Coalition Party, New Zealand Green Party, New Zealand First, ACT, United Future, Maori Party and several smaller parties not represented in Parliament. There is one current independent Member of Parliament.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.

Economy
GDP (December 2006): U.S. $93.1 billion.
Real annual GDP growth rate (December 2006): 1.5%.
Per capita income (2004): U.S. $23,910.
Natural resources: Timber, natural gas, iron sand, coal.
Agriculture (6.7% of GDP): Products--dairy products, meat, forestry products.
Industry (goods-producing industries 21.5% of GDP, service industries 67.5% of GDP): Types--finance, insurance, and business services; manufacturing; personal and community services; transport and communication; wholesale trade; construction; government administration and defense; fishing, forestry, and mining; electricity, gas, and water.
Trade (December 2006): Exports--U.S. $6.37 billion: dairy products, meat, forest/wood/paper products, machinery and equipment, fruit, fish. Major markets--Australia, U.S., Japan, China. Imports--U.S. $7.3 billion: motor vehicles, crude oil, refined oil, aircraft. Major suppliers--Australia, U.S., Japan, China.

USEFUL LINKS

U.S. Government

Miscellaneous

index NZ - The search engine and web directory for New Zealand.
Link OZ Directory - What ever is indexed here is also indexed into the www.linknz.co.nz and other search engines as well so build your Back links.
NZS.com - New Zealand Search Engine & Web Directory, NZ Directory of sites Search, New Zealand Online.
NZPAGES - Everything New Zealand : New Zealand Web Sites Directory.
NZ SEARCH - Find NZ Web Sites in our Search NZ Web Directory.
SEARCH NZ - New Zealand’s leading search engine.