At One Place

New Zealand vs Vatican City

New Zealand vs Vatican City
New Zealand is larger; New Zealand has more people
268,838 km² vs 0.44 km² · 5,324,700 vs 1,000

New Zealand is 610995 times larger than Vatican City — 268,838 against 0 km². New Zealand is 5325 times more populous than Vatican City — 5,324,700 against 1,000 people.

Side by side

New Zealand Vatican City
Capital Wellington Vatican City
Area 268,838 km² 0.44 km²
Population 5,324,700 (2025) 1,000 (2024)
Density 19.8 /km² 2272.7 /km²
Currency New Zealand dollar (NZD) Euro (EUR)
Official languages English, Māori, New Zealand Sign Language Italian, Latin
Time zones UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45 UTC+01:00
Calling code +64 +3
Drives on the left right
Continent Oceania Europe
ISO codes NZ / NZL VA / VAT

Population density

Vatican City is 115 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 2,273 against 20 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

Practical differences

  • They drive on opposite sides — New Zealand on the left, Vatican City on the right.
  • Different currencies: the New Zealand dollar and the Euro.
  • New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
  • Different continents — Oceania and Europe.

New Zealand

Two main islands and around 600 smaller ones, roughly 1,600 km long. New Zealand broke away from Gondwana about 80 million years ago and had no land mammals except bats until people arrived, which is why so many of its birds are flightless. The Southern Alps run most of the South Island and reach 3,724 m at Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Vatican City

The smallest country in the world by both area and population: about 0.44 km², or roughly an eighth the size of New York's Central Park, with fewer than a thousand residents. Its border with Rome is about 3.4 km long. St Peter's Basilica covers around 15,000 m² and is one of the largest churches ever built.

Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

Common questions

Is New Zealand bigger than Vatican City?
New Zealand is larger — 268,838 km² against 0.44 km².
Which has more people, New Zealand or Vatican City?
New Zealand, with 5,324,700 against 1,000.
What is the time difference between New Zealand and Vatican City?
New Zealand is UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45 and Vatican City is UTC+01:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked