# Demographics of New Caledonia

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

| 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 :

### Structure of the population

| 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

Births and deaths
| 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

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 estimate of 15,000 Caledonians were of Algerian descent.
Population of New Caledonia according to ethnic group 1963-2019 :
| Ethnic group | census 1963 | census 1963 | census 1969 | census 1969 | census 1976 | census 1976 | census 1983 | census 1983 | census 1989 | census 1989 | census 1996 | census 1996 | census 2009 | census 2009 | census 2014 | census 2014 | census 2019 | census 2019 |
| Ethnic group | 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 | 11,974 | 13.8 | 13,111 | 13.0 | 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 | 11,974 | 13.8 | 13,111 | 13.0 | 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 | 11,974 | 13.8 | 13,111 | 13.0 | 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 | 11,974 | 13.8 | 13,111 | 13.0 | 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 | 11,974 | 13.8 | 13,111 | 13.0 | 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 | 86,519 | 100,579 | 100,579 | 133,233 | 133,233 | 145,368 | 145,368 | 164,173 | 164,173 | 196,836 | 196,836 | 245,580 | 245,580 | 268,767 | 268,767 | 271,407 | 271,407 |

## Languages

* French (official)
* 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

## Religion

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