New Zealand death and mortality statistics
37,491 deaths were registered in New Zealand in 2025, down 231 from 2024, according to Stats NZ. In the year ended June 2026 the count was 38,037. That is an average of about 103 deaths a day (our arithmetic: 37,491 divided by 365). Nearly two in every three were of people aged 75 and older.
If you are reading this because someone has died, we are sorry. These are population statistics and say nothing about any one person's death. Practical help is further down, and in what to do when someone dies.
A death registration is the record a family or funeral director files with Births, Deaths and Marriages, and Stats NZ's annual count is the number of deaths registered in a period, not the number that happened in it. Most deaths are registered promptly, so the two are close, but the registration count can include a small number from earlier years. Stats NZ's separate provisional weekly series counts by date of death instead. The crude death rate, deaths per 1,000 people in the population, was 7.0 in 2025 and 7.1 in 2024 (Stats NZ, Births and deaths: Year ended December 2025, released 17 February 2026, retrieved 20 October 2026). It does not allow for how old the population is, so Stats NZ calls it a simple measure.
How many people die in New Zealand each year
| Period | Deaths registered | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Year ended December 2023 | 37,884 | |
| Year ended December 2024 | 37,722 | |
| Year ended December 2025 | 37,491 | 19,548 male and 17,943 female |
| Year ended June 2026 | 38,037 | Up from 37,323 in the year ended June 2025 |
December-year figures: Stats NZ, released 17 February 2026, retrieved 20 October 2026. June-year figures: Stats NZ, Births and deaths: Year ended June 2026, released 18 August 2026, retrieved 18 October 2026. The two periods overlap, so the June 2026 figure should not be added to or ranked against the December ones. Stats NZ lists the next release, for the year ended September 2026, as 17 November 2026.
Stats NZ describes the last three December years as a plateau, though 2025 was "still higher than in any year before 2022". Its explanation for the long-run rise is population growth and "more people in the older ages where most deaths occur".
Who dies, and at what age
| Measure, 2025 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Median age at death, males | 79 years |
| Median age at death, females | 83 years |
| Share of deaths aged 75 and older | nearly 2 in 3 |
| Share of deaths aged 90 and older | around 1 in 5 |
| Male deaths (change from 2024) | 19,548 (up 153) |
| Female deaths (change from 2024) | 17,943 (down 384) |
Stats NZ, Births and deaths: Year ended December 2025, retrieved 20 October 2026.
The median age at death is not life expectancy, and the two answer different questions. Our page on life expectancy in New Zealand sets out both, including life expectancy at birth (80.4 years for boys and 83.7 for girls in 2023 to 2025) and what a 65-year-old can expect.
Winter and seasonal patterns: what we can and cannot say
Many people searching these statistics want the winter figure. We do not print one. You will see percentage increases for winter deaths quoted online, and we have not been able to check any of them against a Stats NZ or Health NZ series, so none appears here.
What is published is the raw material. Stats NZ releases provisional weekly deaths, counted by date of death with weeks ending on a Sunday, updated each February, May, August and November, and monthly death registrations by ethnicity, age and sex from January 2010 (both are downloads on the release page above). Anyone can calculate a seasonal pattern from them. We have not done so for this page, and we do not offer a cause for any pattern, because the releases we read do not give one.
One point is certain and does not depend on the season: the early-death windows in a guaranteed acceptance policy run from the day the policy starts, not by time of year. The next section shows how they work.
Accidents and other causes
The leading causes of death in 2023, in Health NZ's ranking, were cancer, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (which includes stroke) (Health NZ: Mortality data web tool, retrieved 20 October 2026). Our causes of death page has the rates, and separate pages cover cancer and heart disease.
We cannot give you a share of deaths that were accidental. When we read Health NZ's page, data on external causes of death (injury and accidents) for 2023 was not yet available, and we will not substitute an overseas figure or an estimate. ACC's claim figures are a different thing, covering injuries rather than deaths, and are on ACC claims statistics.
Why the cause of death matters to a policy
Cause matters because policies treat causes differently in their first years. This describes how two Momentum Life Limited wordings work. It is not a prediction and not advice.
| Situation | Funeral Insurance (ages 40 to 75, $3,000 to $30,000) | Quick Life (ages 18 to 65, $50,000 to $300,000) |
|---|---|---|
| Accidental death in the early window | Pays 3 times the benefit ($9,000 to $90,000) where death happens within 90 days of the accident, in the first 24 months or later | Covered from the start |
| Death from illness in the early window | First 24 months: no benefit, all premiums for that person refunded | First 2 years: no benefit for death from a pre-existing condition, premiums refunded; suicide and intentional self-harm are also excluded; new conditions are covered |
| After the early window | Death from any cause | Death from any cause, with listed exclusions such as alcohol or drug effects, war and listed dangerous jobs or pastimes |
Funeral Insurance policy wording and Quick Life policy wording, retrieved 20 October 2026. In the Funeral wording an accident means unintentional, violent, external and visible means, directly and solely causing death, and not self-inflicted.
Funeral Insurance is not a savings plan: total premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral. Setting money aside is the other way to prepare. Neither product takes new applicants over 75, and with nearly two in three deaths at 75 or older, many people die at an age when only cover bought earlier is in force. Momentum Life Limited holds an A.M. Best financial strength rating of B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026, within A.M. Best's "Vulnerable" range (Momentum Life: Financial strength). See Momentum's Funeral Insurance, Quick Life, and the guaranteed acceptance guide.
The coroner, the death certificate and timing
When a death is sudden or unexplained a coroner may become involved. The Coroners Court says a post mortem is usually the next working day, sometimes two to three days, and the body is usually released later the same day, though it can take 2 or 3 days if the death was suspicious or the examination complicated (Coroners Court: What happens during a post mortem, retrieved 20 October 2026). A body may not be buried or cremated without a cause-of-death certificate or a coroner's authorisation (Burial and Cremation Act 1964 s46AA, as at 4 September 2026).
Registering a death is free; a fee applies only if you order a certificate. A funeral director can register it, and otherwise the person arranging the burial or cremation does so within 3 working days after disposal (govt.nz: Registering a death, retrieved 20 October 2026). A certificate costs $35, and govt.nz says not to order until after the funeral. See the death certificate for the steps.
Momentum's claims page says valid claims "will be paid without unnecessary delay" but lists no documents or timeframe (Momentum Life: Claims, retrieved 20 October 2026). We found no source on how a coroner's involvement affects when any insurer pays, so ask the insurer. Our page on claiming with Momentum Life covers the process.
Help with costs
Work and Income's funeral grant has a maximum of $2,697.43, non-taxable, with income and asset tests, and help from other sources, including prepaid funeral cover, can affect eligibility (Work and Income: Funeral Grant, maximum as at 1 April 2026). See the funeral grant guide, funeral costs and grief support.
The rest of this section
| Page | What it covers | Primary series |
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy | Period and cohort life expectancy, and median age at death | Stats NZ life tables and births and deaths |
| Causes of death | Leading causes in 2023 and how cover treats them | Health NZ mortality collection |
| Cancer | Cases, deaths and trends | Health NZ and Te Aho o Te Kahu |
| Heart disease | Deaths, prevalence and admissions | Heart Foundation and Health NZ |
| ACC claims | Claim volume against cost | ACC General Claims Data on data.govt.nz |
| Life insurance cover | How many New Zealanders hold life cover | Financial Services Council |
| Health insurance | Who has private health cover | Financial Services Council and MartinJenkins |
The rule across all of them: every figure comes from a named primary series, and where no primary series publishes a number the page says so. Some rows read "not published". A table with an honest gap is more useful than one filled from a source that cannot be checked. Pages on mental health and disability statistics are not built, and there is no road toll page, because an annual page cannot serve a query for a live count. The health insurance premium inflation page carries that series, and a second page on it would compete with it.
How we gathered this
We read Stats NZ's births and deaths release for the year ended December 2025 in full on 20 October 2026. The year ended June 2026 figures are from Stats NZ's release of 18 August 2026, read on 18 October 2026. We quote only what those releases and the other linked sources print, and we did not use overseas data. Restated each quarter, or on the next Stats NZ release, whichever comes first.
This is general information, not advice. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application; QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy through our link (how we are paid).
Adviser's view
QuoteHub built this section because most statistics you find about New Zealand deaths are quoted third-hand from a news article that quoted a press release. Every figure here names the release it came from and the date we read it, so you can check us. Where we could not source a number, such as a percentage rise in winter deaths, the page says so instead of printing one.
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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). NZ Death Statistics: How Many Die Each Year. www.quotehub.co.nz/statistics. Updated 2026-10-20.
References
- Stats NZ: Births and deaths, year ended December 2025 (including abridged period life table)
- Stats NZ: Births and deaths, year ended June 2026
- Health NZ: Mortality data web tool
- Coroners Court: What happens during a post mortem
- govt.nz: Registering a death
- Work and Income: Funeral Grant
- Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording
- Momentum Life: Quick Life policy wording
- Momentum Life: Claims
- Momentum Life: Financial strength
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