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After the Second World War, significant immigration from the Pacific Islands began, so much so that there are now more nationals from some Pacific island nations living in New Zealand than on their home islands. The wide variety of Pacific Island cultures has combined in New Zealand, mostly in South Auckland, to form a distinctive subculture that is separate from the Maori culture.

New Zealand has no formal, written constitution; the constitutional framework consists of a mixture of various documents (including certain acts of the United Kingdom and New Zealand Parliaments) and constitutional conventions. Most constitutional provisions became consolidated into the Constitution Act 1986. There have, at times, been proposals for a formal constitution, but there have not yet been any serious moves to adopt one.

Of New Zealand's four million people, roughly three million live in the North Island and one million in the South Island. These islands are among the largest in the world and the combined land area is comparable to the British Isles or the US state of Colorado. Along with Aotearoa, another Maori name for New Zealand was Niu Tireni, a transliteration of the English name.

Kiwi (usually capitalised) has been applied to and adopted by New Zealanders as a nickname for themselves and as an adjective for their culture. It originates from kiwi (usually uncapitalised), the Maori word for several species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The plural form for New Zealanders is always Kiwis. The plural forms for the birds are the anglicised kiwis or, following the Maori language, kiwi without an s.

In recent years the government has sought to address long-standing Maori grievances. Parliament established a Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 to hear claims of official violations of the Treaty of Waitangi, and in 1985 the Tribunal gained the right to consider Crown actions dating back to 1840. A programme of widespread economic de-regulation and privatisation of public enterprises undertaken by the Labour government of 1984 - 1990 continued under its National Party successors. In 1986 the Constitution Act came into force, and in 1993 the majority of New Zealanders decided to change the electoral system from the British system of single member constituencies elected by 'first past the post', to a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP).

New Zealand is world-famous among glider pilots for hosting the 1995 Gliding World Cup at Omarama in North Otago near the centre of the South Island. The Southern Alps are known for the excellent wave soaring conditions. Steve Fossett has recently tried to beat the world gliding altitude record there.

The original settlers were moa hunters, a favourite food source being the large flightless birds which were not unlike ostriches and rheas. Moa were quickly pushed to extinction, since they were not adapted to human or mammalian predation. Before the coming of humans, the moa were the prey of the harpagornis or Haast's eagle, the largest bird of prey ever recorded. Harpagornis became extinct along with its prey. The moa-hunters may have merged with later waves of Polynesians who, according to Maori tradition, arrived between 952 and 1150. Some of the Maoris called their new homeland "Aotearoa," usually translated as "land of the long white cloud."

Since 1984 successive governments have engaged in major economic restructuring, transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a liberalised, free-trade economy. Despite periods of dynamic growth in the mid 1980s and early '90s, average yearly economic growth has been poorer than expected and is highly reliant on massive levels of immigration to boost GDP. However, since 1999 New Zealand has enjoyed a period of relatively strong and sustained growth.