According to the Department of Conservation, the endangered flightless parrot numbers increased 22%, from 197 to 252, in the 2022 breeding season.
Conservation Minister Poto Williams said she was pleased with the numbers as there were now more of the birds than there had been for almost 50 years.
"There is an all-hands-on-deck approach to saving kakapo.
"This has been the second-biggest breeding season, leading to the highest number of birds since the 1970s, but we can’t take our eye off the ball."
The season’s 55 kakapo chicks were added to the official population only when they reached 150 days old, she said.
Success with artificial insemination this season was also key.
The kakapo had very low fertility — only 77 of this year’s 141 eggs were fertile, she said.
Some male kakapo produce few or no offspring, which worsens the already limited genetic diversity of the species.
Eight surviving chicks were born using artificial insemination, compared with just five in the decade to 2019.
Kakapo breed only every two to four years, when rimu trees produce fruit.
