It turns out that New Zealand actually has about one car for every two people, contrary to my earlier guess, now picked up and expanded on elsewhere.
The true wits among you can do what you wish with this data about New Zealand: 4 million people, 2 million cars, 40 million sheep.
The sheep population has dropped from 70 million in 1982, after the elimination of agricultural subsidies. (When the population was around 3 million).
Posted by robe0419 at January 18, 2005 09:16 AM | TrackBackIt seems that the population of NZ is about 4 million, with 78% of them over 15 years old or older. Lets say 90% of those have drivers license. This leaves roughly 2.7 million drivers. So about 1-1.5 cars per driver. Not so much different than here in the US then. Here, my own anecdotal observations suggest lots of folks hop in the car to go half a mile to the store to get the Sunday paper, or to do the solo commute to work along mass transit corridors. I've heard in the Netherlands, for example, that car ownership is quite high, but car use is relatively low. I wonder what actual car use is like in NZ. Is it like here, every man for himself? Or like the Netherlands where the biking, walking, and mass transit infrastructures render cars a secondary mode of transport?
Posted by: Jim at January 18, 2005 10:35 AMThat sure does seem like a lot of sheep though.
It just so happens that I'm wearing a wool shirt right now that was amde in New Zealand from the wool of those 40 million sheep.
Posted by: Jim at January 18, 2005 10:39 AM