How many people are convicted each year?
The number of adults convicted in court, each counted once by their most serious offence was 50,476 (Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, 2025).
Updated
Adults whose charges were finalised in court each calendar year since 1980, counted once by their most serious offence, and the outcome: convicted, other proved (e.g. discharged without conviction), or not proved.
Counts people per year by their most serious offence, not individual charges. Falls can reflect fewer prosecutions, police diversion, or changes in court processes as well as less offending.
Survey results include crimes people report experiencing, whether or not they told Police. Court and prison counts describe later stages of the justice system and cover different groups of people.
Read the period beside each number before comparing it with another figure. A monthly observation, a quarterly result and a financial year cover different spans of time. The latest release can also revise earlier observations. The chart and downloads keep the published periods so you can check which figures are being compared. A change in courts describes what happened during that period; it does not by itself explain why it happened or identify the effect of a government policy. Definitions and coverage matter as much as the size of a change.
Convicted was 50,578 in 2024, a year earlier.
The earliest observation on the same basis was 125,679 in 1980.
Courts: definitions
Adults whose charges were finalised in court each calendar year since 1980, counted once by their most serious offence, and the outcome: convicted, other proved (e.g. discharged without conviction), or not proved.
- Counts people per year by their most serious offence, not individual charges.
- Falls can reflect fewer prosecutions, police diversion, or changes in court processes as well as less offending.
- Excludes children and young people (Youth Court).
- 'Other proved' jumps from about 2,800 a year to 12,000–14,000 between 2002 and 2004; Stats NZ's table does not explain why, so treat it as a break and compare years on either side with care.
Show the figures
| Period | Convicted (number) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 50,476 |
| 2024 | 50,578 |
| 2023 | 49,240 |
| 2022 | 47,411 |
| 2021 | 45,762 |
| 2020 | 51,834 |
| 2019 | 56,957 |
| 2018 | 60,618 |
| 2017 | 64,350 |
| 2016 | 64,565 |
| 2015 | 63,680 |
| 2014 | 68,776 |
| 2013 | 74,717 |
| 2012 | 81,151 |
| 2011 | 87,140 |
| 2010 | 95,404 |
| 2009 | 99,766 |
| 2008 | 95,067 |
| 2007 | 88,401 |
| 2006 | 81,973 |
Calendar years. Source: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa. Lines break at basis changes and missing periods.
Courts: questions for your AI
Download the data, attach it in your assistant, then paste the prompt.
The attached CSV is Adults in court: charges finalised and convictions, from Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa. Answer: How many people are convicted each year? Name the unit and period. Use only directly supported observations. Definitions: Adults whose charges were finalised in court each calendar year since 1980, counted once by their most serious offence, and the outcome: convicted, other proved (e.g. discharged without conviction), or not proved. Limits: Counts people per year by their most serious offence, not individual charges. Falls can reflect fewer prosecutions, police diversion, or changes in court processes as well as less offending. Excludes children and young people (Youth Court). 'Other proved' jumps from about 2,800 a year to 12,000–14,000 between 2002 and 2004; Stats NZ's table does not explain why, so treat it as a break and compare years on either side with care.
More questions about courts
Other questions this topic can answer directly.
Courts: sources
The source publication, licence and snapshot used to build this page.
- Organisation
- Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Adults with finalised charges in court, by outcome (calendar years)
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This work is based on Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
- Reuse limits
- Photos, graphics and logos are excluded. Stats NZ logos and government emblems must not be used.
- Snapshot
- data/raw/statsnz-court-outcomes/2026-10-11_95f99699bc2f.csv
- SHA256
- 95f99699bc2f416d512a421495f475fb9da9be5b23934436802bfe349b5ec7ae
- Retrieved
- 11 October 2026