Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, situated at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington Urban Area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and ranks as New Zealand's third most populous urban area with around 381,900 residents. There are around 473,700 residents in the Wellington Region.
Wellington's suburbs lie across four cities. Wellington City, on the peninsula between Cook Strait and Wellington Harbour, contains the central business district and about half of Wellington's population. Porirua City is situated on Porirua Harbour to the north and is notable for its large Māori and Pacific Island communities. Lower Hutt City and Upper Hutt City are suburban areas to the northeast, together known as the Hutt Valley. Although each of the four cities also contains a rural hinterland, almost all of the population is within the urban area.
Importance
Wellington is New Zealand's political centre, housing Parliament and the head offices of all Government Ministries and Departments, plus the bulk of the foreign diplomatic missions that are based in New Zealand.
Wellington's compact city centre supports an arts scene, café culture and nightlife much larger than most cities of a similar size. It is a centre of New Zealand's film and theatre industry. Te Papa Tongarewa (the Museum of New Zealand), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Museum of Wellington City & Sea and the biennial New Zealand International Arts Festival are all sited there.  
Wellington has the 12th best quality of living in the world, according to a 2007 study by consulting company Mercer. Of cities with English as the primary language, Wellington ranked fourth. Only Auckland of New Zealand cities rated higher as it was ranked fifth in the world in 2006 and 2007.
Demographics
The urban area of Wellington stretches across the city council areas of Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua. As of 2008 the four cities have a total population of 385,600 (June 2008 estimate), and the Wellington Urban Area contains 99% of that population. The remaining areas are largely mountainous and sparsely farmed or parkland and are outside the urban area boundary.
Demographic statistics from the 2006 census are not readily available for the Wellington Urban Area, so the following demographic statistics detailed in this section are for the four city council areas:
Age distribution
| Area |
Under 20 |
20–39 |
40–59 |
60–79 |
80 and over |
| Wellington City |
25% |
37% |
26% |
10% |
2% |
| Lower Hutt City |
30% |
27% |
27% |
12% |
3% |
| Upper Hutt City |
30% |
25% |
28% |
14% |
3% |
| Porirua City |
34% |
27% |
26% |
10% |
1% |
| Four cities |
28% |
32% |
27% |
11% |
2% |
| New Zealand |
29% |
27% |
27% |
14% |
3% |
The relative lack of older people in Wellington is less marked when the neighbouring Kapiti Coast District is included. Nearly 7% of Kapiti Coast residents are over 80. Overall, Wellington's age structure closely matches the national distribution.
Climate
The city averages 2025 hours (or about 169 days) of sunshine per year.
| Weather averages for Wellington, New Zealand |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Average high °C |
20.3 |
20.6 |
19 |
16.7 |
14.2 |
12 |
11.4 |
12 |
13.5 |
15 |
16.6 |
18.5 |
15.8 |
| Average low °C |
13.4 |
13.6 |
12.6 |
10.9 |
8.8 |
6.9 |
6.3 |
6.5 |
7.7 |
9 |
10.3 |
12.2 |
9.9 |
| Precipitation mm |
72 |
62 |
92 |
100 |
117 |
147 |
136 |
123 |
100 |
115 |
99 |
86 |
1,249 |
| Average high °F |
69 |
69 |
66 |
62 |
58 |
54 |
53 |
54 |
56 |
59 |
62 |
65 |
60 |
| Average low °F |
56 |
56 |
55 |
52 |
48 |
44 |
43 |
44 |
46 |
48 |
51 |
54 |
50 |
| Precipitation inches |
2.83 |
2.44 |
3.62 |
3.94 |
4.61 |
5.79 |
5.35 |
4.84 |
3.94 |
4.53 |
3.9 |
3.39 |
49.17 |
| Source: NIWA Oct 2007 |
|
