New Zealand

NZL · 2024 energy mix · renewables 42.5% · fossil fuels 57.4%

Threat reading 17 of 100, classified STABLE. 79 events recorded here in the last seven days, 79 in the last thirty.

That number is computed from live feeds and moves. The live monitor is where to read it as of right now.

Where its energy comes from

Oil38.2%
Hydro24.7%
Other renewables13.0%
Gas12.9%
Coal6.3%
Wind4.1%
Solar0.6%

In 2024, renewables accounted for 42.5% and fossil fuels for 57.4%. On electricity traded with its neighbours, New Zealand is close to balanced on electricity trade.

Sources under one per cent of the mix are left out of the table rather than listed as a row of zeroes. Percentages are shares of a country's primary energy, not of the power it generates.

Recorded history

NOAA's hazard records hold 69 significant earthquakes, 50 tsunamis and 12 significant eruptions in or just off New Zealand since 233.

The deadliest was the 2 February 1931 magnitude 7.7 earthquake (New Zealand: Hawke Bay), which killed 261 people.

The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 8.0, on 1826 (New Zealand: Fjordland).

The most recent entry is the 25 March 2025 magnitude 6.7 earthquake (New Zealand: off West Coast of South Island).

Across the entries that record a death toll, 886 people died.

DateWhatWhereToll
2 February 1931tsunami (waves to 15 m)N. New Zealand261 dead, $25 million damage
2 February 1931magnitude 7.7 earthquakeNew Zealand: Hawke Bay261 dead, $25 million damage
21 February 2011magnitude 6.1 earthquakeNew Zealand: Christchurch, Lyttelton185 dead, 100,000 homes destroyed, $15,000 million damage
10 June 1886VEI 5 eruptionOkataina, New Zealand153 dead
24 December 1953eruptionRuapehu, New Zealand151 dead
7 May 1846eruptionTaupo, New Zealand63 dead
9 December 2019VEI 2 eruptionWhakaari/White Island, New Zealand22 dead
16 June 1929magnitude 7.5 earthquakeNew Zealand: South Island17 dead, damage $1 to 5 million
10 September 1914eruptionWhakaari/White Island, New Zealand11 dead
30 August 1903VEI 1 eruptionOkataina, New Zealand4 dead
23 May 1968magnitude 7.1 earthquakeNew Zealand: South Island: Nw Coast3 dead, $3 million damage
18 October 1848magnitude 6.0 earthquakeNew Zealand: Awatere River, Marlborough3 dead
13 November 2016magnitude 7.8 earthquakeNew Zealand: Amberley2 dead, $3,900 million damage
13 November 2016tsunami (waves to 6.5 m)off East Coast of South Island2 dead, 1 homes destroyed, $3,900 million damage
1 April 1917VEI 1 eruptionOkataina, New Zealand2 dead
20 December 2007magnitude 6.6 earthquakeNew Zealand: off Coast North Island1 dead, 3 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million
2 March 1987magnitude 6.6 earthquakeNew Zealand: North Island, Whakatani, Edgecumbe1 dead, $210 million damage
13 June 2011magnitude 6.0 earthquakeNew Zealand: South Island: Canterbury1 dead, 100 homes destroyed, $3,000 million damage
18 July 2004magnitude 5.4 earthquakeNew Zealand: North Island: Rotorua, Tauranga1 dead, damage $1 to 5 million
20 March 1910tsunami (waves to 1.5 m)Lake Taupo, North Island1 dead, damage under $1 million
6 October 1914tsunamiTolaga Bay, North Island1 dead, damage $1 to 5 million
17 March 2006VEI 1 eruptionRaoul Island, Kermadec Is1 dead
October 2015eruptionOkataina, New Zealand1 dead
13 December 2013eruptionOkataina, New Zealand1 dead
20 March 1910eruptionTaupo, New Zealand1 dead

These are the 25 deadliest and largest of 131 entries. A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.

Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.

In the last 30 days

The most recent events our feeds placed in New Zealand:

What the threat reading is made of

Conflict0
Unrest0
Security0
Spillover from neighbours7
Natural hazard17
Resilience86

Each is 0 to 100. Resilience runs the other way to the rest: a high number is a country better able to absorb a shock, not a country in more trouble.

Large caldera systems here

Other countries tracked

All countries with a page.

Where the data comes from

Energy mix, 2024: Our World in Data, energy dataset (https://github.com/owid/energy-data), compiled by Pablo Rosado, Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. Licence: Our World in Data's own compilation is CC BY 4.0. The underlying figures stay under their original terms: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. EIA, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. The percentages shown here and the wording are ours. Threat reading: computed by Rift Web from the feeds listed on the sources page.