THE KEY FACTS
1
General information
Timezone: + 10h/11h GMT
Capital: Nouméa
Population 2019: 271.407 inhabitants
Area: 18.576 km²
Official language: French
GDP 2018: 8,61 billion €
GDP Growth 2018: 0.6%
GDP per inhabitant 2018: 30.472 €
Currency: Franc CFP/XPF (Communauté Française du Pacifique). 1 € ≈ 119,33174 XPF
Sources: Isee, IEOM
2
Practical Information
Immigration requirements:
All visitors must have a passport valid for at least 6 months after arrival date.
Visitors with a European Union, Australian and New Zealand passport, do not require a visa for a stay of less than three months.
For visitors of other nationalities, entry conditions to the territory are regulated. It is advisable to contact the French consulate or embassy in your country.
Country code: +687 (followed by 6 digits)
Electricity: the power supply is 220/240 volts, 50 hertz. The most common plugs have two round pins.
Subtropical climate divided into two seasons:
The hot and humid season, from November to April: temperatures 27°C-34°C with brief tropical showers. The cyclone season goes from December to February, the hottest months.
The cool and dry season is from May to October: temperatures 20°C-25°C.
3
Geography
The Pacific region is divided into three geographical groups:
Micronesia in the North
Polynesia in the East
Melanesia in the West, comprises:
Fiji
Vanuatu
New Caledonia
Solomon Islands
Papua New Guinea
Western New Guinea or Papua
New Caledonia is the third largest island in the South Pacific after Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, with an emerged area of 18.576 km² and a EEZ* of 1.360.000 km².
*Exclusive Economic Zone: area of coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a country's coastline, to which the country claims exclusive rights for fishing, drilling, and other economic activities.
The archipelago of New Caledonia consists of:
The Mainland, “La Grande Terre”.
Isle of Pines, “Iles des Pins”, south-east of the Mainland.
The Bélep Islands, “l’Archipel des Belep”, situated northwest of the Mainland.
The Loyalty Islands, “Iles Loyauté”, to the east of the Mainland, comprising:
Lifou
Maré
Ouvéa
Tiga
The islets Matthew and Hunter and those of the Chesterfield range.
Source: IEOM
4
Fauna & Flora
The lagoons of New Caledonia are a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008:
covering 8,000 km2
representing the world’s second largest coral reef
The fertility of its waters results in:
the development of a particularly rich and diversified underwater biodiversity
the presence of emblematic/endangered marine species, such as turtles, whales or dugongs, the latter constituting the third world population with around 800 left.
This video presents the Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems property inscribed on the World Heritage List…
“Since their classification, New Caledonian Lagoon’s have become an heritage not only of Caledonians but of the whole of humanity. Aware of these responsibility, more and more Caledonians in the country are today concerned and involved in the endless task of preserving this universal heritage”
Source: whc.unesco.org/newcaledonia
Le Parc Natural de la mer de Corail
The government of New Caledonia created in 2014 the Coral Sea Natural Park, a marine protected area that covers the entire EEZ of New Caledonia, 1.3 million km2.
It is the largest marine protected area in France, and the third largest in the world after those of Hawaii and Cook.
Willing to expand your knowledge on the caledonian biodiversity?
5
Social & Cultural facts
The 2019 census puts New Caledonia’s population at 271.407 inhabitants. Each province hosts:
Southern province: 74,8%
Northern province: 18,4%
Loyalty Islands province: 6,8%
There is a negative migration balance. Births remain higher than deaths, with 12.500 births in five years but the migratory balance became negative. The figures show that those who left “le Caillou” outnumbered those who came to settle there by 9,900 people, a worrying trend.
Communities
As the population is made up of different ethnic groups, New Caledonia enjoys great cultural diversity.
In the 2014 census, the distribution was as follows:
CENSUS DISTRIBUTION 2014
Languages
The official language is French.
There are also 29 native Melanesian languages divided into four groups. Some of them taught in schools.
North: Nyâlayu, Kumak, etc.
Centre: Paici, Ajié, etc.
South: Ndrumbea, Xaracuu, etc.
Loyalty Islands: Drehu, Nengone, etc.
As the vernacular is not a written language, the Kanak oral memory is conveyed by the spoken word. A vector for customary speech, it forms part of the social organization based on equal exchange.