Australia and New Zealand – country comparison

The following is a comparison between Australia and New Zealand, two developed countries in the Oceania region. Let’s read.

Australia is one of the largest countries in the world. It is more than 28 times larger than New Zealand.

Australia has a larger population compared to New Zealand. Both Australia and New Zealand are sparsely populated countries.

	Australia	New Zealand
Life expectancy at birth (2023/UN)	83.92	82.09
Human Development Index rank (2023)	7th	17th
Human Development Index value	0.958	0.938

New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world to give voting rights to women (in 1893).
In 1902, Australia became the second country in the world to provide voting rights to females. However, Indigenous Australian women were granted the right to vote in 1962.

	Australia	New Zealand
Area	around 7.7 million sq km	around 268,000 sq km
Population	27 million (2025 estimate)	5.3 million (2025 estimate)
Capital city	Canberra	Wellington
Largest city	Sydney	Auckland
Most spoken language	English	English
Most popular sport	Australian rules football	Rugby
International tourist arrivals	8.3 million (2024)	1.4 million (2022)
Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites	20	3

	Australia	New Zealand
Region	Oceania	Oceania
Highest mountain	Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) (mainland)	Mount Cook/Aoraki (3,724 m)
Major rivers	Murray River, Murrumbidgee River, Darling River, Lachlan River, Warrego River, etc.	Waikato River, Clutha River, Whanganui River, Taieri River, Rangitīkei River, etc.
Longest river	Murray River	Waikato River
Largest island	Mainland Australia	South Island
Largest lake	Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre	Lake Taupō
Forest cover (2022)	17.4%	37.7%
National animal	Kangaroo and Emu	Kiwi