WELLINGTON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Work-related serious non-fatal injury rates rose in 2017 in New Zealand after four years of declining rates, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Monday.

The rate was up from 14.3 injuries per 100,000 full-time employees (FTEs) in 2016 to 16.9 in 2017, higher than the government's 2020 target of 14.3 injuries per 100,000 FTEs.

"This increase was largely driven by a rise in serious non-fatal injuries in the construction sector, which had the highest number of injuries in the history of this release," government injury information manager James Clarke said in a statement.

The manufacturing, and transport, postal, and warehousing sectors also significantly contributed to the increase, Clarke said.

Serious non-fatal injuries are those in which a patient admitted to hospital is determined to have a probability of death of 6.9 percent or more. Information about these injuries provides insight into injury risks for New Zealanders, and a broader view than just looking at fatalities, he said.

Fatalities are reported as a three-year moving average. Provisional data showed that for 2015-2017, the average annual rate of work-related fatal injuries remained at 2.1 fatalities per 100,000 FTEs.

The latest data showed that the rate has been below the government's 2018-2020 target of 2.5 injuries per 100,000 FTEs since 2012-2014.