🇳🇿 New Zealand Politics - Governance, Freedom & Democracy

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🇳🇿 New Zealand NZ / NZL #75

Nomad Score 58.0

Cities 36

Region Anglosphere, Remote Work Friendly Countries, Islands, Oceania, Oceania, Australia and New Zealand

Currency NZD

📊 GOVERNANCE AT A GLANCE

Government Unitary Westminster parliamentary system

UN Member Yes

Independent Yes

CPI Score (2026) 81/100

Press Freedom (2025) 81.4/100 #16

Electoral Democracy (2025) 0.849

HDI 0.938

🏛 WORLD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS

Political Stability (2023) 96th pct

Rule of Law (2023) 96th pct

Corruption Control (2023) 99th pct

Govt Effectiveness (2023) 92th pct

Regulatory Quality (2023) 99th pct

Voice & Accountability (2023) 100th pct

Source: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Percentile rank among all countries (0=lowest, 100=highest).

🛡 SAFETY & SECURITY

Homicide Rate (2022) 1.5/100k

Traffic Deaths (2019) 9.6/100k

Military Spending (2024) 1.2% of GDP

🏛 GOVERNMENT & LEADERS

Government Type Unitary Westminster parliamentary system

Title	Name
Monarchy of New Zealand	Charles III
Governor-General of New Zealand	Cindy Kiro

💰 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX

CPI Score (2026) 81 / 100

Interpretation Low corruption

Source: Transparency International / Corruption Insights API. Higher scores = less corruption.

📰 PRESS FREEDOM INDEX

Overall Score (2025) 81.4 / 100

Global Rank #16 / 180

Rank Change +3 vs previous year

RSF Zone Asie-Pacifique

Political #20 78.3

Economic #10 72.2

Legal #29 80.8

Social #14 83.5

Safety #23 92.2

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Higher scores = better press freedom.

📊 PRESS FREEDOM DIMENSIONS

Five dimensions of press freedom tracked over time. Higher = better.

🗳 DEMOCRACY INDEX

Electoral (2025) 0.849

Liberal 0.787

Participatory 0.581

Deliberative 0.644

Egalitarian 0.726

Source: V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy), CC-BY-SA. Scale: 0 (least democratic) to 1 (most democratic).

📋 PRESS FREEDOM HISTORICAL DATA

Year	Score	Rank	Political	Economic	Legal	Social	Safety
2025	81.4	16	78.3	72.2	80.8	83.5	92.2
2024	79.7	19	85.4	72.1	71.2	79.8	90.2
2023	84.2	13	89.7	77.5	78.6	84.1	91.3
2022	83.5	11	90.2	75.3	74.8	89.8	87.8
2021	90.0	8	-	-	-	-	100.0
2020	89.3	9	-	-	-	-	100.0
2019	89.3	7	-	-	-	-	100.0
2018	86.4	8	-	-	-	-	100.0
2017	86.0	13	-	-	-	-	100.0
2016	90.0	5	-	-	-	-	83.9
2015	89.9	6	-	-	-	-	83.9
2014	91.5	9	-	-	-	-	-
2013	91.6	8	-	-	-	-	-
2012	-5.3	13	-	-	-	-	-
2010	1.5	8	-	-	-	-	-
2009	3.0	13	-	-	-	-	-
2008	3.0	7	-	-	-	-	-
2007	4.2	15	-	-	-	-	-
2006	5.0	21	-	-	-	-	-
2005	2.0	12	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index