AucklandHome of the city of Auckland. No region has more people.
Bay of PlentyLargest city: Tauranga. James Cook named the bay.
GisborneNamed after its city, Gisborne. Often called the East Coast.
Hawke's BayMain cities: Napier and Hastings. Apples are a big crop here.
Manawatū-WhanganuiMain cities: Palmerston North and Whanganui. Named after two rivers.
NorthlandMain city: Whangārei. It is the northernmost region of New Zealand.
TaranakiMain city: New Plymouth. Named after Mount Taranaki, a cone-shaped volcano.
WaikatoMain city: Hamilton. Named after the Waikato River, which crosses it.
WellingtonHome of Wellington, New Zealand's capital city.
South Island 7
CanterburyMain city: Christchurch. It is the largest region by area.
MarlboroughMain town: Blenheim. Known for the Marlborough Sounds and wine.
NelsonA city that is its own region, the smallest by area.
OtagoMain city: Dunedin. A gold rush began here in 1861.
SouthlandOnly city: Invercargill. The southernmost region, with Stewart Island.
TasmanMain town: Richmond. It has three national parks, including Abel Tasman.
West CoastA long, thin region with the fewest people of any.
How this list was compiled: The 16 regions and the two island groups (North Island regions 9, South Island regions 7) follow Stats NZ, Subnational population estimates: At 30 June 2025 (published 29 October 2025), Table 1 (regional council areas), https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/subnational-population-estimates-at-30-june-2025/ and its file https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Subnational-population-estimates/Subnational-population-estimates-At-30-June-2025/Download-data/subnational-population-estimates-at-30-june-2025-provisional.xlsx, read on 2026-10-02: the same table gives the Auckland region the most people and the West Coast region the fewest, and its note 3 puts the Chatham Islands territory outside every region; Table 2 gives the district populations behind the main cities (New Plymouth the largest of the three districts in Taranaki). Stats NZ, Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023 (updated December 2023), https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Methods/Statistical-standard-for-geographic-areas-2023/statistical-standard-for-geographic-areas-2023-updated-december-2023.pdf, read the same day: 16 regions, five of them unitary authorities (Auckland, Nelson, Gisborne, Tasman, Marlborough), and the Richmond urban area mainly in the Tasman District. Names, codes, council seats and areas (Canterbury the largest, Nelson the smallest) were checked the same day against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:NZ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_New_Zealand. The fact in each detail line was read on 2026-10-02 in two texts: the region's Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northland_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikato, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Plenty_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisborne_District, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawke%27s_Bay, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taranaki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manawat%C5%AB-Whanganui, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_District, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_New_Zealand, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlborough_District, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_Region, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Region) and the story summary of Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), read through the Internet Archive copies of https://teara.govt.nz/en/northland-region, /en/waikato-region, /en/bay-of-plenty-region, /en/hawkes-bay-region, /en/taranaki-region, /en/manawatu-and-horowhenua-region, /en/whanganui-region, /en/wellington-region, /en/nelson-region (which covers Nelson and Tasman), /en/marlborough-region, /en/canterbury-region, /en/otago-region and /en/southland-region. The West Coast line (long and thin, the fewest people) rests on Wikipedia, on Stats NZ's table and on the archived Te Ara story https://teara.govt.nz/en/west-coast-region. Where Te Ara has no line the second text is Stats NZ's tables (Auckland) or, for Gisborne's other name East Coast, the alternative names in Natural Earth. Positions and shapes come from Natural Earth (the point of Manawatū-Whanganui is set lower inside its own shape than the generated one, so that its written name clears the name of Hawke's Bay); coasts and neighbors named in the hints were read from the drawing itself. The Chatham Islands are not drawn and not asked. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centered on 40.8°S 173.1°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This New Zealand map quiz asks for the 16 regions: nine on the North Island and seven on the South Island. Nelson is too small to tap, so it carries a numbered ring.
Read the full guide
One island at a time
The North Island round runs from Northland, the long peninsula at the top, to Wellington at the southern tip. The South Island round asks seven regions; the island off its southern end is Stewart Island, part of Southland. A wrong tap lights the right region and writes its name on it.
Names and facts first
Show me the labels first writes the names on the map. Tap a region there to read a checked fact about it. Auckland, Gisborne, Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough are each run by one council that is district and region at once, called a unitary authority.
Read the top of the South Island from west to east: Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough. Nelson is the small one in the middle.
West Coast and Canterbury lie side by side down the South Island: the thin strip faces west and the biggest region faces east.
Typed answers ignore the macron, so Manawatu-Whanganui counts, and so does the older spelling Manawatu-Wanganui.
Questions and answers
How many regions does New Zealand have?
Sixteen: nine on the North Island and seven on the South Island. Eleven have a regional council and five are unitary authorities. Stats NZ, the country's statistics office, lists the same 16 in its regional population tables.
Which region of New Zealand has the most people?
Auckland, by a wide margin: about a third of the country's people live in that one region. The West Coast, on the South Island, has the fewest people of the 16.
Which is the largest region of New Zealand?
Canterbury, on the east side of the South Island around Christchurch, is the largest by area. Nelson, a city that is a region of its own, is the smallest.
Are the Chatham Islands a region of New Zealand?
No. The Chatham Islands have a council of their own and lie outside all 16 regions, far out in the ocean east of the South Island. They are not drawn on this map and are not asked.