Source: Statistics New Zealand
New Zealand cohort life tables: March 2026 update – information release
27 March 2026
Cohort life tables track the mortality experience of people born in each year from 1876.
Key facts
Cohort life tables give the most authoritative measure of life expectancy because they follow the mortality and survival of each birth cohort (people born in a specific year) at each age until death of the last survivor.
Projections of remaining mortality enable a cohort life table to be completed when a birth cohort still has people alive. Mortality projections are from National population projections: 2024(base)–2078.
Life expectancy from the latest cohort life tables showed that:
- boys born in the late 1870s (the earliest data available) could expect to live to around 51 years on average, and girls to around 55 years
- boys born in the early 1960s (who are now reaching 65 years old) could expect to live to around 79 years on average, and girls to around 83 years
- boys born in the early 2020s (latest data available) could expect to live to around 89 years on average, and girls to around 92 years.
