This article was first published on RNZ.

Life expectancy for Māori has increased more than any other ethnic group in New Zealand, Stats NZ has revealed this week.

Despite Māori having the lowest life expectancy at birth, there has been a 3.1 year increase from the 2005-2007 to 2022-2024 periods, taking it to 75.8 years.

Over the same time frame, life expectancy at birth for people who are Pākehā or other ethnicities each increased by 1.5 and 1.6 years.

“Although life expectancy has increased since 2005-2007, the size of this increase has reduced over the past five years across all ethnicities - while Māori have continued to show some of the largest increases,” Stats NZ population estimates and projections spokesperson Victoria Treliving said.

“Across all ethnic groups, male life expectancy has increased faster than for females.”

In 2022-2024, life expectancy at birth was:

• 81.8 years for the entire population of Aotearoa New Zealand.
• 82.8 years for people who identify with European or Other (including New Zealander) ethnicities.
• 76.9 years for people who identify with a Pacific ethnicity.
• 86.3 years for people who identify with an Asian ethnicity.

Regional trends

The 2022-2024 data suggested that regional trends have remained consistent since data was first obtained for the 1990-1992 period.

The Tasman region was estimated to have the highest life expectancy at birth for both males and females, 82.8 and 85.7 years, respectively.

Auckland currently sits as the second highest region at 81.1 years for males and 84.3 years for females.

Life expectancy at birth in Gisborne was - and has consistently been - the country’s lowest with 77.9 years for males and 81.5 years for females.

Of the 53,000 living in the Gisborne region according to the 2023 Census, 52.9 percent identify as Māori, compared to the 9.7 percent of the Tasman region who identify as Māori.

“Subnational differences in life expectancy at birth reflect several interrelated factors, including health and socioeconomic factors,” Treliving said.

What about the rest of the country?

Life expectancy for the total population barely increased between 2017-2019 and 2022-2024.

While male life expectancy grew from 80.0 to 80.1 years, it stalled at 83.5 years for females.

“The increase in life expectancy over the last five years is the smallest since the early 1960s, when it dropped for males. It also follows a relatively small increase of 0.5 years for males and 0.3 years for females between 2012-2014 and 2017-2019,”

Treliving said the latest population projections assume that life expectancy could continue to increase in the future.

Based on national population projections: 2024 (base) - 2078 life expectancy at birth could climb to: 82.3 years in 2033 and 84.6 years in 2048 for males, and 85.4 years in 2033 and 87.4 years in 2048 for females.

By Emma Andrews of RNZ.