New Zealand is situated in the island-studded region known as Oceania in the South western Pacific. The country consists of two main islands, North and South, separated by Cook Strait and the smaller Stewart Island and Chatham Islands, plus numerous other smaller islands. Neighbouring countries include Australia to the northwest across the Tasman Sea, and to the north New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji Vanuatu and Tonga. With a total land area of 268,671 sq km, New Zealand is about the combined area of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia and about the size of Colorado in the USA. A small country, it nonetheless is still divided into two time zones—New Zealand standard time (12 hours in advance of UTC) and Chatham Islands time (45 minutes in advance of New Zealand standard time).

Its coastline is over 15,000 km, considerable in relation to its total area. The two main islands are predominately mountainous—75% of the country is higher than 200m above sea level - with large coastal plains, having been shaped by volcanic activity. The Southern Alps contain 360 glaciers and New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki Mt Cook (3754 m). As part of the ‘Pacific ring of fire’, volcanic eruptions occur with events in the North Island. The most significant is Ruapehu (elev. 2,797 m, 9,177 ft), which has a history of large eruptions in the past century, most recently 1995, 1996 and 2007, but also offshore on the Kermadec Islands. Taranaki has the potential to produce dangerous avalanches and lahars and other historically active volcanoes are Okataina, Raoul Island, Tongariro, and White Island. Earthquakes are common, though the majority are not severe. New Zealand’s main natural resources are natural gas, iron ore, sand, coal, timber, hydropower, gold and limestone.

New Zealand is also referred to as Aotearoa, meaning ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, from the language of the Māori, whose Polynesian ancestors arrived on the islands around 1,000 years ago. Most New Zealanders are of British origin with about 15% claiming Māori descent. There is migration from mainly Pacific island countries, Samoa, Cook Islands and Niue, but also a large number of migrants from Asia and a small amount of migration from other countries. The makeup of the population is European 76.8%; Maori 14.9%; Asian 9.7%; other Polynesian Pacific peoples 7.2%; Middle Eastern, Latin American and African 0.9%. 98% of the people speak English and 4.1% Māori. These are two of the three official languages, New Zealand Sign Language being the third. Other languages spoken include Samoan, French, Hindi, Yue, Northern Chinese. 55.6% of New Zealanders align with the Christian faith and 34.7% claim no religious affiliation. Reflecting its increasingly mixed-origin population, other main religions being practiced by the population are Hindu 1.5%, Buddhist 1.3%, Islam/Muslim 0.8% and Jewish 0.2%. A Māori branch of Christianity, known as Ratana, is practiced by 1.6% of the population.

Nearly 76% of the people, including a large majority of Māori, live on the North Island and almost 90% live in one of the two islands’ cities. Nearly one-third of those living in cities are in Auckland, the largest city. Agriculture is the core of the economy, that being export-driven; however the employment statistics reflect the high percentage of people living in cities:  services and government 59%; manufacturing and construction 32%; agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining 8.9%. [agriculture: 7%  industry: 19% services: 74% (2006 est.)]

Although not official, the Kiwi, a small native flightless bird, represents New Zealand, with New Zealanders referring to themselves as Kiwis.