> In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km NZ

> In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km NZ is more closely comparible than you are suggesting. The majority of NZ is in cities with the other ~1 million[1] spread over 103,500 sq mi. Density is a distribution, and cherry picking a single density number is nearly always very misleading. Oregon is often a fine comparison with New Zealand. Except I wouldn't want to try to compare which government is more functional (we have our serious problems too). As a generalisation, while it is difficult to compare the whole of the USA with a specific country, it is often enlightening to find a comparible state. [1] 3.4 million in top 20 cities or 3.7 million if including their greater urban areas, population 5.2 million.