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New Zealand is a country with a fascinating population pattern. Nearly 80 percent of its land area is completely uninhabited by humans, which is quite strange, considering that the country has a good climate for people to live in.
The South Island and the North Island are respectively the 12th and 14th largest islands in the world, even larger than the United Kingdom, and share an almost identical climate type with the UK, Ireland, and most of Western Europe. However, despite having an overall climate that is nearly identical to the United Kingdom, and even larger in size, New Zealand is vastly less populated.
In fact, New Zealand’s combined landmass has a lower population than many other smaller islands around the world, despite their larger size and more ideal climate. Smaller islands like Java, Honshu, and Great Britain are all smaller than New Zealand and yet have orders of magnitude more people living on them. The population density in the UK is on average 281 people per square kilometer, while in New Zealand, it’s only 18…
