The Gisborne region covers a land area of 8265 sq km – about 5 percent of New Zealand's total – on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It stretches from just north of Morere thermal springs in the south to the top of the East Cape. Its western boundaries include the townships of Matawai and Potaka. The region is adjacent to Hawke’s Bay in the south and the Bay of Plenty to the north-west.
 
The region is administered by the Gisborne District Council, a unitary authority with regional and district functions.

THE PEOPLE OF GISBORNE DISTRICT

The region has about 44,500 people (2006 Census), 41,922 of whom live in the city and peripheral environs. Tolaga Bay is the largest of the outlying townships with 831 people; Ruatoria, 753; Te Karaka, 546; and Tokomaru Bay 447.

Forty-six percent of the population describe themselves as being of European descent, 41 percent of Maori and 13 percent other nationalities.

The district has New Zealand’s highest proportion of people of Maori descent and is one of the few places where Maori is commonly spoken as an everyday language. There are more than 100 marae (meeting area of a hapu, sub-tribe or family group, including a meeting house) in the district.

Gisborne has a relatively young population with 34 percent of its people under 20 years of age.

More facts relating to Gisborne and the 2006 Census can be found at here.