About the Records

In the database there are about:

• 6 million births (about 900,000 are historical data).
• 2.4 million deaths (about 2 million are historical data).
• 2.1 million marriages (about 400,000 are historical data).

Some interesting information:

• Births and deaths have been officially recorded since 1848.
• Marriages have been recorded since 1854.
• In 1911, it was required that Māori marriages be recorded.
• In 1913, it was required that Māori birth and deaths be recorded.
• Separate Māori and General registration systems were kept until 1961 although some Māori events are registered in the general system.
• As registration could not be enforced many Māori births and deaths were not registered.
• Births Deaths and Marriages were originally part of the Colonial Secretary's office.
• Registers were also established to record overseas marriages and war deaths covering all wars since WWI.

Later registrations provide more information to researchers than earlier ones, however there is still a lot of useful information to be gathered from the early records.