1. Migration
• Do you think this article is opinion of fact or a
bit of both?
• What reason does the article give for people
leaving NZ?
• What reasons does the article give for a
decline in our net migration?

2. Population Distribution
• Measured in number of people per square km (km2)
area divided by the number of people.
• New Zealand's average population density is about 15
people per square km
• People spread very unevenly across the country
• Most people live near urban areas
• 76% live in the North Island
• 52% live in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, and the Bay
of Plenty
• 87% live in cities and towns
• One third live in Auckland

3. On the world map mark in New Zealand mark the
following:
• Equator
• Tropic Cancer
• Tropic Capricorn
• 3 countries with a less average population than New Zealand
(annotate the actual population density)
• 3 countries with a greater average population density than
New Zealand (annotate the actual population density)

4. Reasons for Population distribution
• Cultural Resources – their economic and social needs,
especially need to earn and spend money
• Natural Resources – the physical environment and it’s
landforms, climates, waterways, natural vegetation and soils
Activity
Read through pages 9-13 and answer the following questions:
1. What are the natural factors that influence population
distribution?. Include the difference between early Maori
and Europeans. Give specific examples
2. What cultural factors influence population distribution?
Again include Maori/European specific examples.
3. Copy the map on page 10 and add in the annotations.

5. Aspects are selected from:
• natural and cultural characteristics (features) of
the environments that make them vulnerable to the
extreme natural event(s)
• natural processes that operate to produce the
extreme natural event(s)
• effects of the extreme natural event(s) on the
natural environments
• effects of the extreme natural event(s) on the
cultural environments
• how different groups of people have responded
to the effects of the extreme natural event(s).

6. Assessment will include a selection of the following
population concepts:
• population distribution: how and why population
is spread across the landscape
• population diversity: composition of the
population including – ethnicity, age, sex
• migration and mobility of a population including
both external and internal migration trends
• population change over time including:
population totals, age-sex structure, natural increase
• population sustainability: capacity of the
environment to support a population in the longer
term.

7. Look at the population distribution map of New
Zealand you drew and compare this to the maps
on page 11.
• Write a paragraph which describes how New
Zealand's population is distributed. You will
need to include references to relief and
climate features.

8. Short Essay
• Discuss the factors that influence the
distribution of the population in a country you
have studied this year. Give specific examples

9. Auckland,
Coastal,
North Island,
Lowlands,
Mountains,
Warm,
Rainfall