The Auckland Region encompasses an area of land and sea covering more than 16,000 sq km. It includes a land area of around 5000 sq km, which represents less than 2% of New Zealand's land mass.
In contrast, Auckland’s population of 1.3 million represents more than a third of the total New Zealand population. A 2002 survey showed 60% of the region was non-forested rural land, 27% was covered by native vegetation, and urban and exotic forest each covered 11% of the region.