New Caledonia

Constituent / territory of France.

OceaniaCapital city: Noum'eaCapital metro: Noumea
2026 population
265K
Rank #192 globally
Area
19k km² (7k sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
77% of population in metros
Composite score
1.0
Rank #190 globally

population: Natl annual projection (1 Jan 2025) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 1 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography1 metro

New Caledonia metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#1382Noumea★ Capital▲ Largest
1.0
🗂️ Provinces

3 entries listed under New Caledonia. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

3 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
French
Demonym
New Caledonian
Time zone
UTC+11:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+687
Internet TLD
.nc
ISO 3166
NC
Established
1853
National anthem
Soyons unis, devenons frères

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
GDP
$8.5B
World Bank · 2024
GDP per capita
$29.2k
World Bank · 2024
GNI/capita (Atlas)
$30.1k
World Bank · 2024
Life expectancy
78.9 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
33.9 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
68%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.9%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
16/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
26.2%
World Bank · 2024
Internet users
82%
World Bank · 2017
Inflation
0.6%
World Bank · 2016
CO₂ per capita
18.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
27%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#182 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
New Caledonia · share of world power, 1991–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
290k
#185 in the world
Since 1800
8.09×
from 36k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.00%
0.00% in 1800
74k149k223k298k18001850190019502000
New Caledonia · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for New Caledonia: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2067
348k on the UN median
2050
341k
95% band 230k to 494k
2100
337k
95% band 74k to 955k
2100 against 2025
1.14×
median falling from 2068
Deaths outnumber births
from 2060
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
251k501k752k1.0m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
2k born · 1k died · 0 net migration
TFR 5.13 · life expectancy 45.1 · median age 21.7
1960
3k born · 1k died · +824 net migration
TFR 5.44 · life expectancy 52.3 · median age 20.4
1970
4k born · 1k died · +2k net migration
TFR 5.07 · life expectancy 60.1 · median age 19.4
1980
4k born · 1k died · -1k net migration
TFR 3.66 · life expectancy 65.6 · median age 19.5
1990
4k born · 1k died · +1k net migration
TFR 3.10 · life expectancy 69.5 · median age 22.0
2000
5k born · 1k died · +1k net migration
TFR 2.51 · life expectancy 73.6 · median age 25.5
2010
4k born · 1k died · +2k net migration
TFR 2.19 · life expectancy 76.0 · median age 29.2
2020
4k born · 2k died · -1k net migration
TFR 2.02 · life expectancy 77.0 · median age 32.9
Show all 16 decades
2030
4k born · 2k died · +394 net migration
TFR 1.88 · life expectancy 79.9 · median age 36.0
2040
4k born · 3k died · +278 net migration
TFR 1.82 · life expectancy 81.4 · median age 38.3
2050
4k born · 3k died · +283 net migration
TFR 1.77 · life expectancy 82.9 · median age 40.6
2060
4k born · 4k died · +348 net migration
TFR 1.75 · life expectancy 84.2 · median age 42.3
2070
3k born · 4k died · +260 net migration
TFR 1.73 · life expectancy 85.5 · median age 43.8
2080
3k born · 4k died · +373 net migration
TFR 1.72 · life expectancy 86.6 · median age 45.0
2090
3k born · 4k died · +213 net migration
TFR 1.72 · life expectancy 87.7 · median age 46.2
2100
3k born · 4k died · +211 net migration
TFR 1.71 · life expectancy 88.7 · median age 47.3

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

New Caledonia on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.