New Zealand: Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, New Zealand's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) rose 0.1 percentage points on 2018 (from 96.4% to 96.5%).

Across the 20 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2018), the average change was +0.47 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.07 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 5.3 percentage points in 2000 and the biggest yearly fall was 4.2 percentage points in 2004. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.04 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 54% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2019, New Zealand had the 18th highest value of the 29 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to New Zealand in the 2019 ranking

• Colombia — 15th of 29: 98.8%
• Tonga — 16th of 29: 98.3%
• Türkiye — 17th of 29: 97%
• Germany — 19th of 29: 96.2%
• Panama — 20th of 29: 95%
• Saudi Arabia — 21st of 29: 94.8%

What this measures

Births attended by skilled health staff are the percentage of deliveries attended by personnel trained to give the necessary supervision, care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period; to conduct deliveries on their own; and to care for newborns.

Limitations: For the indicators that are from household surveys, the year refers to the survey year. For more information, consult the original sources.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 23 values

Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) in nearby economies

• Australia — 96% (2020)
• Brunei Darussalam — 99.6% (2021)
• Cambodia — 98.7% (2022)
• China — 99.9% (2016)
• Fiji — 99.8% (2021)
• Indonesia — 94.7% (2019)
• Japan — 99.8% (2021)
• Kiribati — 91.9% (2019)
• Malaysia — 99.6% (2019)
• Mongolia

More health data for New Zealand

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 5.5% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 5.86% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 463,378 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 17.3% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 488,547 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 18.46% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 951,926 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 17.88% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 5.71% (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is New Zealand's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)?

96.5% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1994?

It is up 1.5 percentage points from 95% in 1994. The highest value was 100% in 1995 and the lowest 92% in 1999.

How does New Zealand rank?

18th highest of 29 economies with data for 2019.

Is the latest change in births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) unusual for New Zealand?

In 2019, New Zealand's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) rose 0.1 percentage points on 2018 (from 96.4% to 96.5%). Across the 20 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2018), the average change was +0.47 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.07 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.BRTC.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: State of the World's Children, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); Childinfo, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); Demographic and Health Surveys, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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