Facts About New Zealand
As of 21:09:33 22-Mar-1992
General Profile
Area 103,736 sq mi = 269,000 sq km
Population 1988 3,343,000
Population Growth 0.88 %
Population Density 32 /sq mi
GNP 1988 (millions) $25,856
GNP per Capita $7,734
Capital City Wellington
Banks
8:30am to 4:30pm - can vary slightly
Business Hours
Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Late night for shopping is either
Thursday or Friday. Most shops open Saturday morning, with some
shops and markets remaining open all week-end, in certain resorts
and city centres.
Climate
Southern termperate zone. Neither excessively hot nor cold.
Raincoat essential. Warm clothing suitable most of year.
Seasons reversed from N. Hemisphere.
Currency
Decimal system based on New Zealand dollar, with cent
denominations.
Coins are 10 cent 20 cent 50 cent
1 dollar 2 dollar
Notes are 5 dollar 10 dollar 20 dollar 50 dollar
100 dollar
All major credit cards are accepted widely.
New Zealand operates a Goods and Services Tax of 12.5% on
ALL goods and services sold.
Electricity
230 volts AC, 50 hertz. 3 pin appliance plug
phase --------> / \ <---- neutral
(or live)
| <--------- earth
Most hotels will have shaver plugs suitable for all international
appliance of low power rating, and which will supply 110 and 230
volts.
Telephone
Similar to British Telecom sytle. Uses BT 600 plug (not RJ-11)
Phone line is pins 2 and 5 of the BT 600 plug (RJ-11 is pins 3
&4). Hotels will have difficulty in converting plugs styles.
Most NZ telephone systems can handle DTMF tone dialling.
BEWARE: NZ pulse dilaing is the reverse of most countries.
The digit are reversed and so produce different numbers of
pulses. The conversion is:
digit | # of Pulses
----------+---------------
0 | 10
1 | 9
2 | 8
3 | 7
4 | 6
5 | 5
6 | 4
7 | 3
8 | 2
9 | 1
Travel Details
- Customs generally more formal than in neighboring Australia.
- Visa: Not required of US citizens in possession of a return
or onward ticket staying up to 90 days. Passports must be
valid 3 months beyond date of departure.
- Health: Facilities good. No special precautions necessary.
NB: Agriculture Checks
Demographics
Population 1975 3,071,000
Population 1988 3,343,000
Population 1989 3,372,000
Population 1990 3,402,000
Population 2000 3,714,000
Population Growth 0.88 %
Population Density 32 /sq mi
Pop'n Doubling Time 79 years
Age Distribution:
Age range Male % Female %
0-9 8.0 7.6
10-19 9.4 9.0
20-29 8.6 8.4
30-39 7.4 7.5
40-49 5.4 5.3
50-59 4.5 4.4
60-69 3.6 4.1
70+ 2.7 4.1
Total 49.6 50.4
Literacy Rate 99 %
Urbanization 83.5 %
Major Cities
Population Longitude Code
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wellington 360,000 41.17S,174.47E 4
Auckland 890,000 36.52S,174.46E 9
Christchurch 335,000 43.33S,172.40E 3
Hamilton 170,000 37.46S,175.18E 7
Dunedin 115,000 45.52S,170.30E 3
Telephone Country Code 64
Telex Access Code 791
Ham Radio Prefix ZL
X.25 Country Code 05301
Health Statistics
Life Expectancy (M) 71.0 years
Life Expectancy (F) 77.0 years
Crude Birth Rate 16.3 /1000
Crude Death Rate 8.3 /1000
Infant Mortality 10.8 /1000
No. of Hospitals 318
No. of Hospital Beds 23,052
No. of Physicians 5,210
No. of Dentists 1,160
No. of Pharmacists 2,300
Nursing Personnel 22,000
Government
Type of Government: Parliamentary
Elected on a 3 year term, with around 96 electorates. Each electorate
has one seat in the House of Representatives called Parliament.
Generally, the party with the most seats will form the
Government.
Government Leaders GOVERNOR GENERAL Dame Cath Tizard
PRIME MINISTER Helen Clarke
Major Parties National
Labour
Green Party
Cultural
Languages English
Maori
Ethnic Groups European 88 %
Maori 9 %
Pacific Islander 2 %
Other 1 %
Religions Christian 81 %
Unaffil. & Other 19 %
Main Sights and Places of Interest
- Sights: Auckland, the Bay of Islands, Rotorua thermal area,
Fjordland Nat'l Park, Mt. Cook, Wellington.
Economic Details
GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT (GNP) 1989 (millions) $26,141
Annual GNP Growth 1.1 %
GNP per Capita $7,734
GNP for Agriculture 8 %
GNP for Industry 31 %
GNP for Services 61 %
GNP for Defense 2.2 %
Balance of Trade -$1,299,000,000 (1986)
Major Imports Major Exports
Oil Beef
Vehicles Wool
Machinery Dairy Products
Electrical Equipment Manufactured Goods
Iron & Steel Transport Equipment
Wood Products
Natural Resources Agriculture
Natural Gas Wool
Iron Ore Meat
Sands Dairy Products
Coal
Timber
Hydroelectric Power Major Industries
Gold Food Processing
Limestone Textiles
Machinery
Transport Equipment
Fish Processing
Wood Products
Banking
Insurance
Tourism
Mining
Map of New Zealand
__
\.\
_\.\___
\......\
\......\ Bay of Islands
\....1.\
\......\
\....__\
\...\ _
Auckland----\->X\_ \\
\....\__\\
\........\ Bay of Plenty
Tasman \........\_
Sea \.........\ ______
\..........\ /...../
North \..........\ __/...../_
Island |..........\___/........./
|........2............../
/......................./
____/..................___../
New /x............/\Lake....| \/
Plymouth |.............--Taupo..3\_ Hawkes
\.....................___/ Bay
\____.............._/
\............/
\........../
/........_/
/......../
____ Wellington/......../
/\ Nelson/\/\/\ /._....../
/..\______/X... / /X//...._/
/................\ \__/
/..................|_ Cook Strait
|.................../
|................../
/................../
/...//............./
_/...//............_/ South
/...//............./_ Island
_/..//.................|
/...//.................X\_Christchurch
/...//...................__|
/..//................____/ Banks Penninsula
Southern-------/->//4.............._/
Alps __/.//..............__/
__/..//.............../
/...//................/
___/..//................../
/7....//6................./ 1 Whangarei
/.....//................../ 2 Rotorua
/........................_/ 3 Napier
/........5...............X\Dunedin 4 Mt Cook
\........................./ 5 Te Anau
\________________......./ 6 Wanaka
Foveaux___Strait \_____/ 7 Milford
\..\ Stewart
/._/ Island
/_/
-==//==-
nzfacts.txt
--
rich@tosh.wcc.govt.nz (Richard Naylor ) formatting witbrock@cs.cmu.edu
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