Life expectancy at birth in New Zealand was 70.2 years in 1953: 72.7 for women and 67.9 for men, a gap of 4.8 years. 18,186 people died; 59.9% of them were 65 or older and 9.0% children under five. The most common age at death was 70-74. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1953

Life expectancy at birth

70.2

Women

72.7

Men

67.9

Life expectancy at 65

14.4

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

25.6

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

32.2

Deaths

18,186

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.9

Men dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

194

Women dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

135

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1953's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1953

Deaths per 1,000 people per year in each age group. Logarithmic scale: each gridline is ten times the one below. Hover for exact values.

WomenMen

Show the life table data

Age	Death rate, women (‰)	Death rate, men (‰)	Years left, women	Years left, men
0	21.91	30.30	72.7	67.9
1-4	1.63	1.77	73.3	69.0
5-9	0.59	0.61	69.8	65.5
10-14	0.63	0.65	65.0	60.7
15-19	0.58	1.53	60.2	55.8
20-24	0.91	1.94	55.3	51.3
25-29	0.82	1.65	50.6	46.7
30-34	1.18	1.72	45.8	42.1
35-39	1.58	2.08	41.0	37.4
40-44	2.87	3.48	36.3	32.8
45-49	4.61	5.88	31.8	28.3
50-54	6.29	9.27	27.5	24.1
55-59	10.13	15.41	23.3	20.1
60-64	14.54	23.92	19.3	16.5
65-69	23.54	37.14	15.6	13.3
70-74	40.27	56.81	12.2	10.5
75-79	64.66	87.99	9.4	8.1
80-84	104.93	127.33	7.0	6.2
85-89	157.16	184.04	5.2	4.7
90-94	238.23	268.22	3.8	3.5
95-99	343.83	372.75	2.8	2.6
100+	475.62	497.83	2.1	2.0

Mortality in New Zealand by year

Mortality in New Zealand, 1953

Year

Country