Cook_Islands The Cook Islands (Cook Islands Māori:Kūki 'Āirani) are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand. The fifteen small islands in this South Pacific Ocean country have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7sq), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1.8 million square kilometres (0.7 millionsq) of ocean.The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 as of 2006), where there is an international airport.