Long known as the primary source of sheep’s wool and Lord of the Rings movies, New Zealand
is one of the quieter, more collected countries in the world.
With few major international disputes, and a strong peacekeeping force, the small collection
of islands is somewhat isolated outside of their relations with Australia and the Pacific
Islands.
So, how powerful is New Zealand?
To start, New Zealand is actually made up of two islands, respectively called North
and South Island, along with a handful of surrounding, smaller islands too.
Most of New Zealand’s four and a half million residents live on North Island, with nearly
a third in the city of Auckland (AWk-lend).
But in total, New Zealand covers only about 100,000 square miles.
That’s roughly the same size as Colorado, but with about a million fewer residents.
Due to it’s remote location in the southwestern Pacific, New Zealand was actually one of the
last areas in the world to be populated by humans, meaning that their history only goes
back to the 13th century.
Although New Zealand has a relatively low GDP of less than 200 billion, ranking them
54th in the world, their quality of life is great.
It holds the seventh highest Human Development score, and an average life expectancy of 83
years for women and 79.5 years for men.
Economically, New Zealand used to be famous for it’s wool exports, but today, they’ve
shifted primarily to exporting dairy, meat, and wood.
In fact, they are one of the top milk producers in the world.
New Zealand doesn’t really have a lot of money to spend on their military, so they
only spend about 1% of their GDP on defense.
But due to their remote location and membership in a number of international groups, they’re
not especially worried about being attacked.
Their military is more so used in UN peacekeeping.
In 2014 they were ranked the world’s 4th most peaceful country.
New Zealand also gets major points for their political stability.
Although they are still technically presided over by the Queen of England, their parliamentary
democracy has been called one of the world’s best, most transparent, and least corrupt.
Additionally, with nearly 80% voter turnout in their 2008 elections, they have some of
the highest levels of civic participation.
However, despite New Zealand’s enlightened status, they’re not totally free of problems.
New Zealand’s population suffers from the fourth highest rate of cancer, and is the
third most overweight in the world.
But despite following a high-income lifestyle of inactivity, New Zealand tends to score
pretty high everywhere else.
So, how powerful is New Zealand?
In terms of global effect, not very, but in terms of quality of life, they’re extremely
powerful.
New Zealand has a really interesting story, that many people don’t know about.
If you’re interested in learning what the country would be like had it never been colonized,
make sure you check out this awesome video from our friends at Alternate History Hub.
Thanks as always for watching TestTube!
See you next time.