The following lists events that happened during 1943 in New Zealand.

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,642,000.^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1942: 5600 (0.34%).^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 92.9.^[1]

• New Zealand troops take part in invasion of Italy.
• 25 February – Mutiny by Japanese prisoners of war at Featherston prisoner of war camp results in 48 Japanese dead, 61 wounded, plus one dead and 11 injured guards.
• 28 March - Body of Michael Joseph Savage reinterred at Bastion Point by a crowd of ten thousand
• 3 April – Battle of Manners Street between American and New Zealand servicemen
• 4 June – Hyde railway disaster – 21 passengers are killed when the Cromwell to Dunedin Express derails while travelling around a bend too fast near Hyde in Central Otago.^[4]
• 20 June – Several U.S. Marines drown during landing exercises at Paekākāriki.
• 28 August – Eleanor Roosevelt arrives in New Zealand for visit (she had visited American troops in the Cook Islands).
• 3 September – Eleanor Roosevelt flies out from Auckland.
• 25 September – 1943 New Zealand general election.
• October last US Marines depart US Naval Base New Zealand
• 28 October – Butter rationing is introduced, with an allowance of 8 ounces (230 g) per person per week.^[5][6]
• Japanese submarines operate in New Zealand waters in 1942 and 1943. They send reconnaissance aircraft over Auckland and Wellington, but do not carry out any attacks.

See 1943 in art, 1943 in literature

• 28 January: Malvina Major, opera singer
• 10 March: John McGrath, judge (died 2018)
• 16 March: Dave McKenzie, long-distance runner
• 24 March: Kate Webb, journalist (died 2007)
• 6 April: Roger Cook, journalist
• 7 May: Gretchen Albrecht, painter
• 12 July: Bruce Taylor, cricketer (died 2021)
• 16 July: Peter Welsh, steeplechase runner
• 20 July: Chris Amon, Formula 1 racing driver (died 2016)
• 19 August: Sid Going, rugby union player
• 9 September: Keith Murdoch, rugby union player (died 2018)
• 11 September: Brian Perkins, radio broadcaster in Britain (BBC)
• 15 October (in Bosnia): Drago Došen, painter (died 2019)
• 21 October: John Robertson (composer)
• 27 October: Tom Lister, rugby union player (died 2017)
• 7 November: Silvia Cartwright, judge
• 16 November: Chris Laidlaw, All Black, diplomat, politician and radio host
• 24 November: Barry Milburn, cricketer
• 26 November: Adrienne Simpson, broadcaster, historian, musicologist and writer (died 2010)
• 17 December: (in Ireland): Bert Hawthorne, motor racing driver (died 1972)
• 25 December: Hedley Howarth, cricketer (died 2008)
• Mel Courtney, politician
• Brian Easton, economist
• Richard (Dick) Frizzell, artist
• Alamein Kopu, politician (died 2011)
• Georgina te Heuheu, politician

• 15 January: William Barber, politician.^[13]
• 1 February: Frank Worsley, sailor and explorer.^[14]
• 6 April: Paraire Karaka Paikea, politician.^[13]
• 4 March: Arthur Cook, politician.^[15]
• 27 March: Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, soldier, VC winner.
• 22 May: Alfred Ransom, politician & cabinet minister.
• 27 May: Gordon Coates, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand.
• 31 May: Dolce Ann Cabot, journalist.
• 21 August: Hilda Hewlett, aviation pioneer.
• 6 September: James Cowan, writer, historian and ethnographer.^[16]
• 14 September: Sarah McMurray, woodcarver and craftswoman.^[17]
• 24 September: Arthur Withy, journalist and politician.
• 10 October: Emma Maria Walrond, landscape painter.^[18]
• 11 October: Matthew Joseph Brodie, second Catholic bishop of Christchurch.
• 20 October: John Rigg, politician.^[13]

• William Barber
• Frank Worsley
• Paraire Karaka Paikea
• Arthur Cook
• Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu
• Alfred Ransom
• Gordon Coates
• Hilda Hewlett
• Sarah McMurray
• Matthew Brodie
• John Rigg

• History of New Zealand
• List of years in New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment

For world events and topics in 1943 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1943