New Zealand
Article
May 23, 2022
New Zealand [n 1] (in English: New Zealand; in Maori: Aotearoa, "land of the great white cloud")[5] is a country in Oceania, located in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean and constituted in a monarchy parliamentary It is made up of two large islands: the North Island and the South Island, along with a large number of smaller islands, including Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. The Kingdom of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association), the Tokelau Archipelago, and the Ross Antarctic Dependency. The capital of New Zealand is the city of Wellington, located on the North Island. New Zealand, notable for its geographic isolation, is located about 2,000 kilometers southeast of Australia in the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbors to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Due to this long isolation, an endemic fauna dominated by birds developed in the country, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and mammals that were introduced without any control.[6] Most of the population New Zealand population is of European descent; indigenous Māori are the largest minority.[7] Asians and Polynesians are also significant minorities, especially in urban areas. Although it has three official languages, the most widely spoken, by far, is English.[8] Elizabeth II, as Queen of New Zealand, is the country's head of state and is represented by a Governor General,[9] while executive power is exercised by the Cabinet and the Prime Minister. Its cities are among those with the best quality of life in the world. New Zealand is a developed country that ranks high in international rankings on many issues, including freedom from corruption, level of education, and economic freedom,[10] and also stands out on its Human Development Index, which ranks it thirteenth in the world in 2016, and its democracy indices, which place it in the vast majority of major publications and studies as the freest country with the greatest respect for civil rights in the world .[4]