New Caledonians were 230 000 at the 2004 census. This is a small to medium size town population. Currently their number is estimated at 236 000.
More than half of the people live in the Noumea urban area (Noumea, Dumbea, Mont Dore have currently a total population of at least 135 000 people.
With a total land area of less than 20 000 km2 there is consequently a density of 10 people per sq. km in New Caledonia and less than 5 people/sq. km outside Noumea.
| Comparison | New Caledonia |
France |
| Yearly natural growth | 1.5%
|
0,3% |
| People of less than 20 years of age | 40% |
26% |
| Inhabitants/km2 | 10 |
100 |
New Caledonian population has a high growth rate and is a young population
Communities
New Caledonians are an heterogeneous population. Communities have been often classified as "ethnic groups" but they are in fact socio-cultural groups with a noticeable and sometimes important, blood mixing. Mixed blood children with clear skin and blond hair living in tribal environment are associated with the Melanesian family lines and class themselves in the Melanesian"ethnic group" while other children, with dark skin and Melanesian physical features living within European families put themselves in the European ethnic group. Skin color is therefore of little significance in New Caledonia. This is the relation to a community which is relevant.
Local Melanesian community makes 44 % of the total population. European community share is 34%. Polynesian and Wallis-Futuna people reach 11% and the Asian people (Indonesians, Vietnamese) 4%.
There are also New Caledonian originating from India, Reunion Island, French Caribbean Islands and North Africa. Japanese were sent back to Japan during world war II but they left numerous mixed blood descendants.
European population is also split between the people who have been living in New Caledonia for several generations and French newcomers immigrating. Their children however are a new generation of New Caledonian people.
The 2004 census does not account for the communities numbers anymore. But braking the thermometer is not the way to cure a fever.
The socio-ethnic realty is much more complex than the simplistic black versus white opposition often presented in French media. Notion of "native people" is altered by blood mixing. However the separation inherited from the colonization times is a persisting problem despite improvement and a real common willingness to get closer to each other. Prejudice inherited from the past and the weight of habits have still to be overcome.
Population growth is strong since the sixties, it is now three time that of 1965.
