New Zealand has a modern, prosperous, developed economy with an estimated nominal Gross domestic product (GDP) of US$128.1 billion (as of 2008). The country has a relatively high standard of living with an estimated GDP per capita of US$30,234 in 2008 which is comparable to Southern Europe; e.g. Spain US$33,385, but lower than the United States at US$46,820. Since 2000 New Zealand has made substantial gains in median household income. New Zealand, along with Australia, largely escaped the early 2000s recession that impacted upon most other advanced countries. The combination of high growth in New Zealand, along with negative growth in United States has allowed New Zealand to reduce the income gap.New Zealanders have a high level of life satisfaction as measured by international surveys; this is despite lower GDP per-head levels than many other OECD countries. The country was ranked 20th on the 2006 Human Development Index and 15th in The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index.The country was further ranked 1st in life satisfaction and 5th in overall prosperity in the 2007 Legatum Institute prosperity index. In addition, the 2007 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 5th place and Wellington 12th place in the world on its list.
The tertiary sector is the largest sector in the economy (68.8% of GDP), followed by the secondary sector (26.9% of GDP) and the primary sector (4.3% of GDP).
Tourism plays a significant role in New Zealand's economy. Tourism contributes $12.8 billion (or 8.9%) to New Zealand’s total GDP and supports nearly 200,000 full-time equivalent jobs (9.9% of the total workforce in New Zealand). Tourists to New Zealand are expected to increase at a rate of 4% annually up to 2013.
