Fact File

Get to know New Zealand! Get the facts about its land, products and culture.

Official name: New Zealand

Fields of wild lupine line the shores of Lake Tekapo on New Zealand's South Island.

Size: 103,737 square miles; about the size of Colorado

Population: 4,035,461 as of July 2005

Capital: Wellington

Official Language: English, Maori

Currency: New Zealand Dollar (NZD)

Literacy: 99%

Climate: Winter is wet and blustery and summer is clear and sunny

Agricultural Products: Wheat, barley, potatoes, grapes, kiwifruit, dairy products, wool, beef

Major industries (businesses): Wood and paper, machinery, clothing, mining, tourism

Did you know?:

• A bug as big as a mouse roams New Zealand. The wetapunga grows up to four inches long.
• The harsh landscape of Tongariro National Park, in central North Island, was the setting of the evil land Mordor in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
• Maori people rub noses to say hello.

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