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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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