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. The results are based on National population projections: 2022(base)–2073.

Life expectancy from the latest cohort life tables show that newborn:

• 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 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 (the latest data available) could expect to live to around 88 years on average, and girls to around 91 years.
   

Visit our website to read this information release and to download CSV files:

• New Zealand cohort life tables: March 2025 update: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/new-zealand-cohort-life-tables-march-2025-update/
• How long will I live?: https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/how-long-will-i-live/
• CSV files for download: https://www.stats.govt.nz/large-datasets/csv-files-for-download/

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