Life expectancy at birth in New Zealand was 71.8 years in 1972: 74.7 for women and 69.0 for men, a gap of 5.7 years. 24,507 people died; 64.7% of them were 65 or older and 5.0% children under five. The most common age at death was 75-79. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1972

Life expectancy at birth

71.8

Women

74.7

Men

69.0

Life expectancy at 65

14.5

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

15.7

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

19.5

Deaths

24,507

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.4

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

186

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

112

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1972's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1972

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	13.92	17.78	74.8	69.0
1-4	0.95	0.99	74.8	69.3
5-9	0.38	0.36	71.1	65.5
10-14	0.34	0.33	66.2	60.6
15-19	0.70	1.62	61.3	55.7
20-24	0.54	1.68	56.5	51.2
25-29	0.63	1.15	51.7	46.6
30-34	0.88	1.52	46.8	41.8
35-39	1.36	2.04	42.0	37.1
40-44	2.36	2.92	37.3	32.5
45-49	3.64	5.34	32.7	27.9
50-54	5.30	9.52	28.2	23.6
55-59	8.24	15.36	23.9	19.6
60-64	13.58	25.63	19.8	16.0
65-69	22.01	38.56	16.0	12.8
70-74	35.33	59.86	12.6	10.0
75-79	61.30	95.43	9.5	7.6
80-84	98.99	136.64	7.0	5.8
85-89	163.83	202.81	5.0	4.3
90-94	255.41	292.19	3.6	3.2
95-99	380.50	409.26	2.5	2.4
100+	528.65	539.90	1.9	1.9

Mortality in New Zealand by year

Mortality in New Zealand, 1972

Year

Country