Demographics of New Caledonia

New Caledonia population pyramid in 2020

Demographic features of the population of New Caledonia include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

## Population

[edit]

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%
| Year| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

2004 | 230,789| +2.01%
2009 | 245,580| +1.25%
2014 | 268,767| +1.82%
2019 | 271,407| +0.20%
2022 | 269,815| −0.20%
2023 | 268,510| −0.48%
ISEE[1]

### Structure of the population

[edit]

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.I.2017): [2]

Age Group  | Male  | Female  | Total  | %

|
|
|
|

Total  | 140 000  | 138 495  | 278 495  | 100
0–4  | 10 481  | 10 106  | 20 587  | 7.39
5–9  | 11 009  | 10 286  | 21 295  | 7.65
10–14  | 10 922  | 10 583  | 21 505  | 7.72
15–19  | 11 621  | 11 342  | 22 963  | 8.25
20–24  | 10 329  | 9 608  | 19 937  | 7.16
25–29  | 10 338  | 10 400  | 20 738  | 7.45
30–34  | 10 760  | 10 727  | 21 487  | 7.72
35–39  | 10 255  | 10 462  | 20 717  | 7.44
40–44  | 10 853  | 10 702  | 21 555  | 7.74
45–49  | 9 795  | 9 949  | 19 744  | 7.09
50–54  | 8 939  | 8 780  | 17 719  | 6.36
55–59  | 7 010  | 6 945  | 13 955  | 5.01
60–64  | 5 722  | 5 508  | 11 230  | 4.03
65-69  | 4 516  | 4 361  | 8 877  | 3.19
70-74  | 3 339  | 3 311  | 6 650  | 2.39
75-79  | 2 157  | 2 485  | 4 642  | 1.67
80-84  | 1 198  | 1 595  | 2 793  | 1.00
85-89  | 607  | 931  | 1 538  | 0.55
90-94  | 119  | 317  | 436  | 0.16
95+  | 30  | 97  | 127  | 0.05
Age group  | Male  | Female  | Total  | Percent
0–14  | 32 412  | 30 975  | 63 387  | 22.76
15–64  | 95 622  | 94 423  | 190 045  | 68.24
65+  | 11 966  | 13 097  | 25 063  | 9.00

## Vital statistics

[edit]

Births and deaths[3]

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  | 269,460  | 4,191  | 1,465  | 2,726  | 15.6  | 5.4  | 10.2  | 2.08
2016  | 270,220  | 4,271  | 1,569  | 2,702  | 15.8  | 5.8  | 10.0  | 2.13
2017  | 270,810  | 4,067  | 1,531  | 2,536  | 15.0  | 5.7  | 9.3  | 2.04
2018  | 271,240  | 4,076  | 1,556  | 2,520  | 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
2020  | 271,080  | 3,991  | 1,540  | 2,451  | 14.6  | 5.7  | 8.9  | 2.05
2021  | 270,390  | 3,931  | 1,985  | 1,946  | 14.3  | 7.3  | 7.0  | 2.05
2022  | 269,215  | 3,805  | 1,900  | 1,905  | 14.1  | 7.1  | 7.0  | 2.02
2023  |  | 3,358  | 1,440  | 1,918  | 12.5  | 5.4  | 7.1  |

ISEE - Démographie

## Ethnic groups

[edit]

Ethnic Melanesians known as Kanak constituted 41.2% of the population in 2019, followed by Europeans (Caldoche and Zoreille) 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 estimated 15,000 Caledonians were of Algerian descent.[4]

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

## Languages

[edit]

* French (official)
* 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

## Religion

[edit]

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: It uses a 2012 data. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2025)

|

Religion in New Caledonia according to the Global Religious Landscape survey by the Pew Forum, 2012[5][6]

1. Christianity (85.2%)
2. No religion (10.4%)
3. Islam (2.80%)
4. Buddhism (0.60%)
5. Folk religion (0.20%)
6. Others (0.80%)

## See also

[edit]

* New Caledonia
* Europeans in Oceania
* Demographics of France

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Population at Different Censuses". isee.nc. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
2. ^ "UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
3. ^ "ISEE - Institut de la statistique et des études économiques Nouvelle-Calédonie". www.isee.nc.
4. ^ "Population Structure of Communities". isee.nc. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
5. ^ "The Global Religious Landscape" (PDF). Pewforum.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
6. ^ "New Caledonia", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2025-03-18, retrieved 2025-03-21

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Demographics of French overseas departments and territories

Overseas departments|

* French Guiana
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Overseas collectivities|

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Special status|

* New Caledonia

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Demographics of Oceania

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