FACTS

Location: Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Australia

Area (only Total) total: 268,680 sq km

Climate: temperate with sharp regional contrasts

Terrain: predominately mountainous with some large coastal plains

Population: 4,173,460

Main Language (only first): English

Government type: parliamentary democracy

Capital (Name): Wellington

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+12

Independence: 26 September 1907

National holiday: Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840); ANZAC Day (commemorated as the anniversary of the landing of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25 April (1915)