Demographics of New Caledonia

This article is about the demographic features of the population of New Caledonia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Historical population[]

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1956	68,480	—
1963	86,519	+3.40%
1969	100,579	+2.54%
1976	133,233	+4.10%
1983	145,368	+1.25%
1989	164,173	+2.05%
1996	196,836	+2.63%
2004	230,789	+2.01%
2009	245,580	+1.25%
2014	268,767	+1.82%
2019	271,407	+0.20%
ISEE[1]

Vital statistics[]

Births and deaths^[2]

Year	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
1981	140,050	3,668	914	2,754	27.7	6.4	21.3	3.64
1982	145,700	3,830	914	2,916	26.3	6.3	20.0	3.41
1983	148,700	3,832	848	2,984	25.8	5.7	20.1	3.33
1984	151,650	3,763	905	2,858	24.8	6.0	18.8	3.17
1985	154,450	3,619	891	2,728	23.4	5.8	17.7	3.00
1986	157,350	3,921	904	3,017	24.9	5.7	19.2	3.17
1987	160,500	4,122	913	3,209	25.7	5.7	20.0	3.25
1988	163,650	4,035	962	3,073	24.7	5.9	18.8	3.10
1989	166,898	3,944	990	2,954	23.6	5.9	17.7	2.97
1990	170,899	4,378	928	3,450	25.6	5.4	20.2	3.19
1991	175,362	4,501	978	3,523	25.7	5.6	20.1	3.15
1992	179,799	4,405	931	3,474	24.5	5.2	19.3	2.99
1993	184,496	4,337	954	3,383	23.5	5.2	18.3	2.86
1994	189,482	4,267	1,060	3,207	22.5	5.6	16.9	2.70
1995	193,816	4,242	1,020	3,222	21.9	5.3	16.6	2.59
1996	197,564	4,401	1,020	3,381	22.3	5.2	17.1	2.65
1997	201,418	4,490	1,016	3,474	22.3	5.0	17.2	2.67
1998	205,279	4,352	982	3,370	21.2	4.8	16.4	2.55
1999	209,214	4,316	1,095	3,221	20.6	5.2	15.4	2.48
2000	213,230	4,566	1,077	3,489	21.4	5.1	16.4	2.59
2001	217,324	4,326	1,131	3,195	19.9	5.2	14.7	2.43
2002	221,490	4,194	1,121	3,073	18.9	5.1	13.9	2.33
2003	225,296	4,102	1,121	2,981	18.2	5.0	13.2	2.27
2004	228,750	3,978	1,116	2,862	17.4	4.9	12.5
2005	232,250	4,051	1,142	2,909	17.4	4.9	12.5
2006	235,750	4,224	1,113	3,111	17.9	4.7	13.2
2007	239,250	4,093	1,207	2,886	17.1	5.0	12.1
2008	242,750	4,015	1,169	2,846	16.5	4.8	11.7
2009	245,950	4,103	1,261	2,842	16.7	5.1	11.6
2010	249,750	4,178	1,191	2,987	16.7	4.8	12.0	2.20
2011	254,350	4,119	1,320	2,799	16.2	5.2	11.0	2.15
2012	259,000	4,389	1,322	3,067	16.9	5.1	11.8	2.28
2013	263,650	4,373	1,374	2,999	16.6	5.2	11.4	2.19
2014	268,050	4,370	1,406	2,964	16.3	5.2	11.1	2.17
2015	269,452	4,191	1,465	2,726	15.6	5.4	10.2	2.08
2016	270,213	4,271	1,569	2,702	15.8	5.8	10.0	2.13
2017	270,801	4,067	1,531	2,536	15.0	5.7	9.3	2.04
2018	271,151	4,072	1,556	2,516	15.0	5.7	9.3	2.06
2019	271,228	4,110	1,627	2,483	15.2	6.0	9.2	2.10

Ethnic groups[]

Ethnic Melanesians known as Kanak constituted 41.2% of the population in 2019, followed by Europeans with 24.1%. The Europeans are the largest ethnic group in the South Province, where they make up a plurality, while Kanak are the majority in the two other provinces. The remainder of the population are Wallis and Futunan (8.3%), Tahitian (2.0%), Indonesians (1.4%), Ni-Vanuatu (0.9%), Vietnamese, other Asian (0.4%), Mixed (11.3%), and belong to other ethnic groups (9.5%). An estimate of 15,000 Caledonians were of Algerian descent.^[3]

Population of New Caledonia according to ethnic group 1963-2019

Ethnic group	census 1963		census 1969		census 1976		census 1983		census 1989		census 1996		census 2009		census 2014		census 2019
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Kanak	41,190	47.6	46,200	45.9	55,598	41.7	61,870	42.6	73,598	44.8	86,788	44.1	99,078	40.3	104,958	39.1	111,856	41.2
Europeans	33,355	38.6	41,268	41.0	50,757	38.1	53,974	37.1	55,085	33.6	67,151	34.1	71,721	29.2	73,199	27.2	65,488	24.1
Wallisians and Futunians	11,974	13.8	13,111	13.0	9,571	7.2	12,174	8.4	14,186	8.6	17,763	9.0	21,262	8.7	21,926	8.2	22,520	8.3
Tahitians					6,391	4.8	5,570	3.8	4,750	2.9	5,871	2.6	4,985	2.0	5,608	2.1	5,366	2.0
Ni-Vanuatu					1,050	0.8	1,212	0.8	1,683	1.0	2,244	1.1	2,327	0.9	2,568	1.0	2,313	0.9
Indonesians					5,111	3.8	5,319	3.7	5,191	3.2	5,003	2.5	3,767	1.6	3,859	1.4	3,786	1.4
Vietnamese					1,943	1.5	2,381	1.6	2,461	1.5	2,822	1.4	2,357	1.0	2,506	0.9	2,230	0.8
Others					2,812	2.1	2,868	2.0	7,219	4.4	9,894	5.0	39,865	16.2	54,143	20.1	57,848	21.3
Total	86,519		100,579		133,233		145,368		164,173		196,836		245,580		268,767		271,407

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics[]

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.^[4]

Age structure[]

• 0–14 years: 21.74% (male 32,227/female 30,819)
• 15–24 years: 15.63% (male 23,164/female 22,163)
• 25–54 years: 43.73% (male 63,968/female 62,856)
• 55–64 years: 9.06% (male 12,700/female 13,568)
• 65 years and over: 9.84% (male 12,552/female 15,992)

Population[]

• 290,009

Population growth rate[]

• 1.25%

Birth rate[]

• 14.5 births/1,000 population

Death rate[]

• 5.9 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate[]

• 3.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Sex ratio[]

• At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 0–14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15–24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 25–54 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
• 55–64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
• Total population: 1 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate[]

• Total: 5 deaths/1,000 live births
• Male: 5.9 deaths/1,000 live births
• Female: 4.1 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth[]

• Total population: 78.4 years
• Male: 74.4 years
• Female: 82.5 years

Total fertility rate[]

• 1.88 children born/woman

Nationality[]

• noun: New Caledonian(s)
• adjective: New Caledonian

Religions[]

• Roman Catholic 60%
• Protestant 30%
• Other 10%

Ethnic groups[]

• Kanak 39.1%
• European 27.1%
• Wallisian and Futunian 8.2%
• Tahitian 2.1%
• Indonesian 1.4%
• Ni-Vanuatu 1%
• Vietnamese 0.9%
• Other 17.7%
• Unspecified 2.5%

Languages[]

• French (official)
• 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

Literacy[]

• Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• Total population: 96.9%
• Male: 97.3%
• Female: 96.5%

See also[]

• New Caledonia
• Europeans in Oceania

References[]