New Zealand: Surface area (sq. km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2024, New Zealand had the 75th highest value of the 213 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to New Zealand in the 2024 ranking

• Italy — 72nd of 213: 302,070
• Philippines — 73rd of 213: 300,000
• Burkina Faso — 74th of 213: 274,200
• Gabon — 76th of 213: 267,670
• Ecuador — 77th of 213: 256,370
• Guinea — 78th of 213: 245,857

What this measures

Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.

Limitations: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 64 values

Surface area (sq. km) in nearby economies

• American Samoa — 199 (2024)
• Australia — 7.74 million (2024)
• Brunei Darussalam — 5,770 (2024)
• Cambodia — 181,035 (2024)
• China — 9.56 million (2024)
• Fiji — 18,333 (2024)
• French Polynesia — 3,521 (2024)
• Guam — 541 (2024)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 1,110 (2024)
• Indonesia — 1.92 million (2024)
• Japan — 377,975 (2024)
• Kiribati — 811 (2024)

More environment data for New Zealand

• Population in largest city — 1.71 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 38.26% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 1.71 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 32.14% (2025)
• Rural population — 852,066 (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 16% (2025)
• Urban population — 4.47 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 84% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 98,878 (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is New Zealand's surface area (sq. km)?

267,710 in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1961?

It is unchanged at from 267,710 in 1961. The highest value was 267,710 in 1961 and the lowest 267,710 in 1961.

How does New Zealand rank?

75th highest of 213 economies with data for 2024.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator AG.SRF.TOTL.K2, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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