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 population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1950 | 65,000 | — |
| 1960 | 78,000 | +20.0% |
| 1970 | 105,000 | +34.6% |
| 1980 | 142,000 | +35.2% |
| 1990 | 170,000 | +19.7% |
| 2000 | 212,000 | +24.7% |
| 2010 | 251,000 | +18.4% |
| Source:[1] | ||
Ethnic groups
Ethnic Melanesians known as Kanak constituted 39% of the population in 2014, followed by Europeans with 27%. The Europeans are the largest ethnic group in the province Sud (South), while Kanak are the majority in the two other provinces. There is also a large minority from other Polynesian islands, mainly from Wallis and Futana (8%), but also from Tahiti (2%) and Vanuatu (1%). The remainder of the population (23%) is mainly from Asian countries.[2][3]
| 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 | ||
| 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 | 27.1 | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | ||||||
| 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 | ||||||
| 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 | ||||||
| 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 | ||||||
| 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 | ||||||
| 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%