New Zealand: Mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, New Zealand's mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults) fell 0.99 on 2020 (from 50.18 to 49.19).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1991 to 2020), the average change was −1.43 and a typical year strayed about 2.44 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above 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 5.81 in 1980 and the biggest yearly fall was 9.96 in 1983. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2012 to 2021 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.35 a year. A straight line explains 85% 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.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 48.34 for 2024. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2019 to 2021 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.74, against 1.5 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to New Zealand in the 2021 ranking

• Bulgaria — 1st of 4: 118.35
• Czechia — 2nd of 4: 61.34
• Australia — 4th of 4: 41.65

What this measures

Adult mortality rate, female, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60--that is, the probability of a 15-year-old female dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages.

Limitations: Data from United Nations Population Division's World Populaton Prospects are originally 5-year period data and the presented are linearly interpolated by the World Bank for annual series. Therefore they may not reflect real events as much as observed data.

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

All 62 values

Mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults) in nearby economies

• American Samoa — 120.6 (2023)
• Australia — 41.65 (2021)
• Brunei Darussalam — 93 (2024)
• Cambodia — 131.14 (2024)
• China — 55.97 (2024)
• Fiji — 190.61 (2024)
• French Polynesia — 25.55 (2024)
• Guam — 99.47 (2024)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 32.77 (2024)
• Indonesia

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

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is New Zealand's mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults)?

49.19 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1960?

It is down 57.12% from 114.7 in 1960 (1.38% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 118.95 in 1967 and the lowest 49.19 in 2021.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SP.DYN.AMRT.FE, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Human Mortality Database, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, uri: www.mortality.org; University of California, Berkeley, uri: www.mortality.org, note: Human Mortality Database; French Institute for Demogr… 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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