This report shows there is a high likelihood of being alive 30 days after surgery in New Zealand.
In 2024, there were:
- 221,500 surgeries performed in New Zealand, with a 99.4 percent survival rate 30 days after surgery
- 153,600 planned surgeries, with a 99.8 percent survival rate
- 67,800 emergency surgeries, with a 98.4 percent survival rate.
For 2020 to 2024, the report also shows:
- the average number of planned and emergency surgeries a year
- the most common surgeries and those that are the highest risk
- the average number of deaths a year from all causes, not just surgery, within 30 days of surgery.
Health professionals can use this information to support informed decisions about the benefits and risks of upcoming surgery.
Patients and whānau can use this information to better understand risks and outcomes related to surgery. There are also resources you can use to help you prepare for surgery.
Understanding surgical risk in New Zealand
There are benefits and risks to every surgery. Our data confirms that rates of death within 30 days of surgery in New Zealand align with those reported in countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Planned surgery is more common and has lower rates of death within 30 days than emergency surgery.
The report shows differences in outcomes between population groups. For example Māori and Pacific peoples have higher rates of death within 30 days of emergency surgery than Asian and European/Other ethnicities and Māori have higher rates following planned surgery.
These results should be interpreted with care. The measure used includes all deaths within 30 days of surgery and reflects a combination of factors, not just surgery itself.
Supporting ongoing improvement
A joint Perioperative Mortality Review Group involving the Commission and Health New Zealand is a new approach to strengthening how surgical outcomes are monitored and acted on.
It brings together cross-agency expertise to identify variation in outcomes using routinely collected data, and to support action through clinical governance at a system level. This report supports that work by providing transparent national-level information about surgical risk.
Rounding up numbers in the report
Some of the percentages in the report may not match the average number of people who died within 30 days.
This is because rounding has been applied for presentation purposes.
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