The majority of New Zealand’s four million people live in the North Island. The South Island is sparsely populated outside the main centres. Auckland city, in the north of the North Island, is the nation’s largest, with a population of more than one million. The capital is Wellington, at the southern tip of the North Island.

New Zealand has a very diverse population. The majority are of British descent – often referred to as Pakeha – but other European cultures such as Dutch, French, Italian, Greek and Dalmation are also represented. Many New Zealanders originate from the Pacific Islands or Asia, but the largest non-European group is the Maori population.

New Zealand is a sovereign state with a Westminster-style democratic parliamentary government.

God’s own country

First appearing as the title of a poem by Thomas Bracken in the 1880s, now shortened to Godzone, this phrase is used in reference to New Zealand and its many blessings – landscape, climate and social equality.