Life expectancy in New Zealand
New Zealand: Life expectancy was 82.09 years in 2023. ▲ Rising
Life expectancy in New Zealand, 1948–2023
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
In 2023, life expectancy in New Zealand stood at 82.09 years.
The figure is up 1.3% on the previous year and up 0.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, life expectancy in New Zealand peaked at 82.66 years in 2020 and was at its lowest, 68.81 years, in 1948.
New Zealand ranks 36th of 236 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 76 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 68.88 years | 68.81 years | 68.95 years | 2 |
| 1950s | 70.14 years | 69.13 years | 70.88 years | 10 |
| 1960s | 71.22 years | 70.93 years | 71.47 years | 10 |
| 1970s | 72.12 years | 71.22 years | 73.05 years | 10 |
| 1980s | 74 years | 72.86 years | 74.89 years | 10 |
| 1990s | 76.81 years | 75.43 years | 78.17 years | 10 |
| 2000s | 79.57 years | 78.66 years | 80.55 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 81.5 years | 80.84 years | 82 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 82.01 years | 81.01 years | 82.66 years | 4 |
Countries ranked near New Zealand
- 33 Luxembourg 82.23 years compare
- 34 Netherlands 82.16 years compare
- 35 Belgium 82.11 years compare
- 37 Guadeloupe 82.05 years compare
- 38 Austria 81.96 years compare
- 39 Denmark 81.93 years compare
More health data for New Zealand
- Age population, age 11, male, interpolated 33,497 (2025)
- Age population, age 14, female, interpolated 33,125 (2025)
- Age population, age 13, male, interpolated 34,390 (2025)
- Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 32,847 (2025)
- Age population, age 12, male, interpolated 33,945 (2025)
- Age population, age 12, female, interpolated 32,324 (2025)
- Age population, age 10, male, interpolated 33,143 (2025)
- Age population, age 09, male, interpolated 32,771 (2025)
- Age population, age 10, female, interpolated 31,139 (2025)
- Age population, age 14, male, interpolated 34,822 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is life expectancy in New Zealand?
- Life expectancy in New Zealand was 82.09 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest life expectancy recorded in New Zealand?
- The highest recorded value was 82.66 years in 2020.
- What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in New Zealand?
- The lowest recorded value was 68.81 years in 1948.
- How does New Zealand rank for life expectancy?
- New Zealand ranks 36th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
- Is life expectancy rising or falling in New Zealand?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this New Zealand data come from?
- The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 76 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.