Monday 21 July 2008

3 million Kiwis, 60 million sheep

The NZ Government’s Statistics department have had some spare time on their hands.

They’ve researched some common myths about population.

We always heard that there were around 60 million in New Zealand, usually in relation of another sheep joke. However the ratio of 20 sheep to every Kiwi is a bit out of date now.

The latest Agricultural Production statistics says there was 40.1 million resident sheep at 30 June 2006. The sheep-person ratio has halved in the last 20 years, and now stands at 10 sheep per person. I used to keep mine hidden in the bedroom.

New Zealand's sheep/person ratio is still twice as high as Australia, we have less than five sheep per person. So the Velcro gloves and taking the sheep to the edge of a cliff jokes that are still somewhat relevant.

There are 91.9 million sheep in Australia at 30 June 2006 - the lowest estimate since 1925 (ABS 2007). The Australian population grew from 18.0 million in 1994 to 20.7 million in 2006.

Here's the Kiwi myths explained and exposed...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is New Zealand a country or province or something?? Is is one of those islands off of ew Foundland?

Anonymous said...

Australia's coastal islands:Hinchinbrook, Magnetic, Whitsundays, Fraser, Moreton, Straddie, North, South, Tasmania