List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand by tenure

The following is a list of Prime Ministers of New Zealand ranked by their total term in office (multiple terms are added together to give the total term in office).

	Rank	Name	Party	Term(s)
	1	Richard Seddon †	Liberal	13 years, 44 days
	2	William Massey †	Reform	12 years, 304 days
	3	Keith Holyoake	National	11 years, 140 days[1]
	4	Peter Fraser	Labour	9 years, 261 days
	5	Helen Clark	Labour	8 years, 350 days
	6	Edward Stafford	None	8 years, 326 days[2]
	7	Robert Muldoon	National	8 years, 227 days
	8	John Key (incumbent)	National	8 years, 19 days[3]
	9	Sidney Holland	National	7 years, 281 days
	10	Joseph Ward	Liberal	7 years, 38 days[4]
			United
	11	Jim Bolger	National	7 years, 36 days
	12	George Forbes	United	5 years, 192 days
	13	Harry Atkinson	None	5 years, 116 days[5]
	14	David Lange	Labour	5 years, 13 days
	15	William Fox	None	4 years, 148 days[6]
	16	Michael Joseph Savage †	Labour	4 years, 112 days
	17	Gordon Coates	Reform	3 years, 194 days
	18	Robert Stout	None	3 years, 47 days[7]
	19	Walter Nash	Labour	3 years, 0 days
	20	Julius Vogel	None	2 years, 288 days[8]
	21	John Hall	None	2 years, 195 days
	22	Frederick Whitaker	None	2 years, 182 days[9]
	23	John Ballance †	Liberal	2 years, 93 days
	24	Jenny Shipley	National	1 year, 362 days
	25	George Grey	None	1 year, 360 days
	26	Norman Kirk †	Labour	1 year, 266 days
	27	Bill Rowling	Labour	1 year, 97 days
	28	Alfred Domett	None	1 year, 85 days
	29	Geoffrey Palmer	Labour	1 year, 27 days
	30	Frederick Weld	None	326 days
	31	Jack Marshall	National	305 days
	32	Daniel Pollen	None	224 days
	33	George Waterhouse	None	143 days
	34	Thomas Mackenzie	Liberal	104 days
	35	Mike Moore	Labour	59 days
	36	William Hall-Jones	Liberal	57 days
	37	Francis Bell	Reform	16 days
	38	Henry Sewell	None	13 days

† - Died in office.

Note: Some lists consider Hugh Watt as a New Zealand Prime Minister. Watt served as acting Prime Minister for seven days from 31 August to 6 September 1972 following the death of Norman Kirk. He is not normally counted in the official numbering of New Zealand Prime Ministers.

Graphical

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand by age
• List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand by place of birth
• List of Prime Ministers of Australia by time in office

Notes

1. Served 2 terms - 20 September 1957 – 12 December 1957: 83 days and 12 December 1960 – 7 February 1972: 11 years, 57 days
2. Served 3 terms: 2 June 1856 – 12 July 1861 (5 years, 40 days), 16 October 1865 – 28 June 1869 (3 years, 255 days), 10 September 1872 – 11 October 1872 (31 days)
3. As of 8 December 2016
4. Served 2 terms: 6 August 1906 – 28 March 1912 (5 years, 235 days) and 10 December 1928 – 28 May 1930 (1 year, 169 days); Ward holds the record for the longest time between two premierships at 16 years, 257 days
5. Served 4 terms: 1 September 1876 – 13 October 1877 (1 year, 42 days), 25 September 1883 – 16 August 1884 (326 days), 28 August 1884 – 3 September 1884 (6 days), 8 October 1887 – 24 January 1891 (3 years, 108 days)
6. Served 4 terms: 20 May 1856 – 2 June 1856 (Thirteen days), 12 July 1861 – 6 August 1862 (1 year, 25 days), 28 June 1869 – 10 September 1872 (3 years, 74 days), and 3 March 1873 – 8 April 1873 (36 days)
7. Served 2 terms: 16 August 1884 – 28 August 1884 (12 days) and 3 September 1884 – 8 October 1887 (3 years, 1 month, 5 days)
8. Served 2 terms: 8 April 1873 – 6 July 1875 (2 years, 89 days), 15 February 1876 – 1 September 1876 (199 days)
9. Served 2 terms: 30 October 1863 – 24 November 1864 (1 year, 25 days), 21 April 1882 – 25 September 1883 (1 year, 157 days)