page_title: North Island
section_title: Cities and towns
hierarchical_section_title: North Island / Cities and towns
caption_attribution_description: New Zealand North Island.
context_page_description: The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island's area is 113,729 square kilometres, making it the world's 14th-largest island. It has a population of 3,760,900.
  Twelve main urban areas are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, and Wellington, the capital, located at the south-west extremity of the island. About 76% of New Zealand's population lives in the North Island.
context_section_description: The North Island has a larger population than the South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it.
  There are 28 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more:
caption: Map of the North Island showing some of its cities
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