List of islands of New Zealand

New Zealand consists of more than six hundred islands, mainly remnants of a larger land mass now beneath the sea.^[1] New Zealand is the sixth-largest island country, and the third-largest located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. The following is a list of islands of New Zealand.

The two largest islands – where most of the population lives – have names in both English and in the Māori language. They are the North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui and the South Island or Te Waipounamu.^[2] Various Māori iwi sometimes use other names, with some preferring to call the South Island Te Waka o Aoraki.^[3] The two islands are separated by the Cook Strait. In general practice, the term mainland refers to the North Island and South Island.^[4][5] However, the South Island alone is sometimes called "the mainland" – especially by its residents, as a nickname – because it is the larger of the two main islands.^{[6][Note 1]}

To the south of the South Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura is the largest of the smaller islands, and Waiheke Island in the urban Auckland Region has the largest population of the smaller islands.

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