UNICEF's country profile for New Zealand, including under-five mortality rates, child health, education and sanitation data.

In 2023, the infant mortality rate in deaths per 1,000 live births in New Zealand amounted to four. Between 1960 and 2023, the figure dropped by 18.6, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Historical dataset showing New Zealand infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

The child mortality rate in New Zealand, for children under the age of five, was 391 deaths per thousand births in 1850. This means that just under forty percent of all children born in 1850 did not make it to their fifth birthday. This number dropped drastically over the next ten years, then it remained between one and two hundred for the remainder of the 1800s, before dropping gradually from 1900 until today. By 2020, child mortality in New Zealand is expected to be approximately five deaths per thousand births.

New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 4.400 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.500 Ratio for 2016. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 9.950 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22.600 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 4.400 Ratio in 2017. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.World Bank: Health Statistics. Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Infant mortality rate of New Zealand fell by 2.44% from 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022 to 4.0 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023. Since the 2.00% decline in 2013, infant mortality rate plummeted by 18.37% in 2023. Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 5.300 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 5.400 Ratio for 2016. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 12.100 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27.900 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 5.300 Ratio in 2017. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

The infant mortality rate in New Zealand, for children under the age of one year old, was 106 deaths per thousand births in 1865. This means that for all babies born in 1865, more than one tenth did not survive past their first birthday. Over the course of the next 155 years, this number dropped to just four deaths per thousand births in the period between 2015 and 2020.

Actual value and historical data chart for New Zealand Number Of Infant Deaths

New Zealand: Infant deaths per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2022 is 4 deaths per 1000 live births, unchanged from 4 deaths per 1000 live births in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 19 deaths per 1000 live births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for New Zealand from 1960 to 2022 is 10 deaths per 1000 live births. The minimum value, 4 deaths per 1000 live births, was reached in 2016 while the maximum of 23 deaths per 1000 live births was recorded in 1960.

Actual value and historical data chart for New Zealand Mortality Rate Infant Male Per 1000 Live Births

Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births) in New Zealand was reported at 3.7 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. New Zealand - Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

In 2023, the crude birth rate in live births per 1,000 inhabitants in New Zealand amounted to 10.86. Between 1960 and 2023, the figure dropped by 15.55, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Students will explore the patterns of world population in terms of total population, arithmetic density, total fertility rate, natural increase rate, and infant mortality rate. The activity uses a web-based map.Learning outcomes:Students will be able to identify and explain the spatial patterns and distribution of world population based on total population, density, total fertility rate, natural increase rate, and infant mortality rate.Other New Zealand GeoInquiry instructional material freely available at https://arcg.is/1GPDXe

New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant per 1000 Births data was reported at 3.300 NA in 2050. This stayed constant from the previous number of 3.300 NA for 2049. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant per 1000 Births data is updated yearly, averaging 4.400 NA from Jun 1986 (Median) to 2050, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.200 NA in 1986 and a record low of 3.300 NA in 2050. New Zealand NZ: Mortality Rate: Infant per 1000 Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.US Census Bureau: Demographic Projection.

Actual value and historical data chart for New Zealand Birth Rate Crude Per 1 000 People

New Zealand NZ: Number of Death: Infant data was reported at 271.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 275.000 Person for 2016. New Zealand NZ: Number of Death: Infant data is updated yearly, averaging 551.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,369.000 Person in 1960 and a record low of 271.000 Person in 2017. New Zealand NZ: Number of Death: Infant data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Number of infants dying before reaching one year of age.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Sum;

IntroductionProducing estimates of infant (under age 1 y), child (age 1–4 y), and under-five (under age 5 y) mortality rates disaggregated by sex is complicated by problems with data quality and availability. Interpretation of sex differences requires nuanced analysis: girls have a biological advantage against many causes of death that may be eroded if they are disadvantaged in access to resources. Earlier studies found that girls in some regions were not experiencing the survival advantage expected at given levels of mortality. In this paper I generate new estimates of sex differences for the 1970s to the 2000s. Methods and FindingsSimple fitting methods were applied to male-to-female ratios of infant and under-five mortality rates from vital registration, surveys, and censuses. The sex ratio estimates were used to disaggregate published series of both-sexes mortality rates that were based on a larger number of sources. In many developing countries, I found that sex ratios of mortality have changed in the same direction as historically occurred in developed countries, but typically had a lower degree of female advantage for a given level of mortality. Regional average sex ratios weighted by numbers of births were found to be highly influenced by China and India, the only countries where both infant mortality and overall under-five mortality were estimated to be higher for girls than for boys in the 2000s. For the less developed regions (comprising Africa, Asia excluding Japan, Latin America/Caribbean, and Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand), on average, boys' under-five mortality in the 2000s was about 2% higher than girls'. A number of countries were found to still experience higher mortality for girls than boys in the 1–4-y age group, with concentrations in southern Asia, northern Africa/western Asia, and western Africa. In the more developed regions (comprising Europe, northern America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand), I found that the sex ratio of infant mortality peaked in the 1970s or 1980s and declined thereafter. ConclusionsThe methods developed here pinpoint regions and countries where sex differences in mortality merit closer examination to ensure that both sexes are sharing equally in access to health resources. Further study of the distribution of causes of death in different settings will aid the interpretation of differences in survival for boys and girls. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

This scatter chart displays life expectancy at birth (year) against death rate (per 1,000 people) in New Zealand. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

BackgroundInternationally, a typical model of maternity care is a medically led system with varying levels of midwifery input. New Zealand has a midwife-led model of care, and there are movements in other countries to adopt such a system. There is a paucity of systemic evaluation that formally investigates safety-related outcomes in relationship to midwife-led care within an entire maternity service. The main objective of this study was to compare major adverse perinatal outcomes between midwife-led and medical-led maternity care in New Zealand.Methods and FindingsThis was a population-based retrospective cohort study. Participants were mother/baby pairs for all 244,047 singleton, term deliveries occurring between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2012 in New Zealand in which no major fetal, neonatal, chromosomal or metabolic abnormality was identified and the mother was first registered with a midwife, obstetrician, or general practitioner as lead maternity carer. Main outcome measures were low Apgar score at five min, intrauterine hypoxia, birth-related asphyxia, neonatal encephalopathy, small for gestational age (as a negative control), and mortality outcomes (perinatal related mortality, stillbirth, and neonatal mortality). Logistic regression models were fitted, with crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) generated for each outcome for midwife-led versus medical-led care (based on lead maternity carer at first registration) with 95% confidence intervals. Fully adjusted models included age, ethnicity, deprivation, trimester of registration, parity, smoking, body mass index (BMI), and pre-existing diabetes and/or hypertension in the model. Of the 244,047 pregnancies included in the study, 223,385 (91.5%) were first registered with a midwife lead maternity carer, and 20,662 (8.5%) with a medical lead maternity carer. Adjusted ORs showed that medical-led births were associated with lower odds of an Apgar score of less than seven at 5 min (OR 0.52; 95% confidence interval 0.43–0.64), intrauterine hypoxia (OR 0.79; 0.62–1.02), birth-related asphyxia (OR 0.45; 0.32–0.62), and neonatal encephalopathy (OR 0.61; 0.38–0.97). No association was found between lead carer at first registration and being small for gestational age (SGA), which was included as a negative control (OR 1.00; 0.95–1.05). It was not possible to definitively determine whether one model of care was associated with fewer infant deaths, with ORs for the medical-led model compared with the midwife-led model being 0.80 (0.54–1.19) for perinatal related mortality, 0.86 (0.55–1.34) for stillbirth, and 0.62 (0.25–1.53) for neonatal mortality. Major limitations were related to the use of routine data in which some variables lacked detail; for example, we were unable to differentiate the midwife-led group into those who had received medical input during pregnancy and those who had not.ConclusionsThere is an unexplained excess of adverse events in midwife-led deliveries in New Zealand where midwives practice autonomously. The findings are of concern and demonstrate a need for further research that specifically investigates the reasons for the apparent excess of adverse outcomes in mothers with midwife-led care. These findings should be interpreted in the context of New Zealand’s internationally comparable birth outcomes and in the context of research that supports the many benefits of midwife-led care, such as greater patient satisfaction and lower intervention rates.