Life expectancy at birth in New Zealand was 70.3 years in 1954: 72.9 for women and 68.0 for men, a gap of 4.8 years. 18,744 people died; 61.2% of them were 65 or older and 8.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 75-79. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1954

Life expectancy at birth

70.3

Women

72.9

Men

68.0

Life expectancy at 65

14.3

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

24.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

31.0

Deaths

18,744

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.9

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

187

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

128

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1954's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1954

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	21.56	28.13	72.9	68.0
1-4	1.70	1.71	73.4	68.9
5-9	0.54	0.60	69.9	65.4
10-14	0.44	0.54	65.1	60.6
15-19	0.67	1.34	60.2	55.7
20-24	0.97	2.23	55.4	51.1
25-29	1.21	1.84	50.7	46.6
30-34	1.14	1.71	46.0	42.0
35-39	1.57	2.29	41.2	37.4
40-44	2.14	2.99	36.5	32.8
45-49	3.76	5.20	31.9	28.2
50-54	6.17	8.68	27.4	23.9
55-59	9.79	15.03	23.2	19.8
60-64	14.48	26.36	19.2	16.2
65-69	22.69	37.72	15.5	13.1
70-74	40.36	56.45	12.0	10.3
75-79	68.95	89.85	9.2	7.9
80-84	100.79	131.22	6.9	6.0
85-89	169.06	204.47	4.9	4.4
90-94	257.53	279.45	3.6	3.4
95-99	372.17	372.02	2.6	2.6
100+	509.55	480.82	2.0	2.1

Mortality in New Zealand by year

Mortality in New Zealand, 1954

Year

Country