Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

I updated the population figures to the 2004 census.

The status of New Caledonia was changed from overseas territory to overseas country (pays d'outre-mer) by the Nouméa agreement, adopted by Parliament on 1999-02-19.

Karem Abdalla has provided me with a spreadsheet showing the areas and 1996 populations of the provinces of New Caledonia.

Country overview: 

Short name	NEW CALEDONIA
ISO code	NC
FIPS code	NC
Language	French (fr)
Time zone	+11
Capital	Nouméa

 

New Caledonia has been a French possession for the whole 20th century. In 1958 its status changed to territoire d'outre-mer (overseas territory). On 1959-12-27, its dependencies, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, were split from New Caledonia to become a separate overseas territory.

Other names of country: 

1. Dutch: Nieuw Caledonië
2. English: Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies (formal)
3. French: Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouvelle-Calédonie f et Dépendances fp (formal)
4. German: Neukaledonien n
5. Icelandic: Nýja-Kaledónia
6. Italian: Nuova Caledonia f
7. Norwegian: Ny Caledonia
8. Portuguese: Nova Caledónia f, Nova Caledônia (Brazil)
9. Russian: Новая Каледония
10. Spanish: Nueva Caledonia f
11. Turkish: Yeni Kaledonya

Origin of name: 

Caledonia is a poetic name for Scotland

Primary subdivisions: 

New Caledonia is divided into three provinces.

Province	HASC	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Îles Loyauté	NC.IL	22,080	1,981	765	Wé
Nord	NC.NO	44,474	7,348	2,837	Koné
Sud	NC.SU	164,235	9,407	3,632	Nouméa
Totals		230,789	18,736	7,234
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. Population: 2004-08-31 census.

Postal codes: 

New Caledonian postal codes are five-digit numbers beginning with 988, following the French system.

Further subdivisions:

See the Communes of New Caledonia page.

The provinces are subdivided into 33 communes.

Territorial extent: 

1. New Caledonia consists of the large island of New Caledonia, some nearby smaller islands, and some remote tiny islands.
2. Îles Loyauté includes Lifou, Maré, Ouvéa, Tiga, and some nearby islets.
3. Nord includes the northern end of New Caledonia with the adjacent islands of Balabio, Baaba, Yandé, etc.; the Bélep Islands (Art, Pott, and some smaller ones); and probably the remote dependencies of Chesterfield Islands and Huon Islands.
4. Sud includes the southern end of New Caledonia with the adjacent islands of Ouen, Hugon, Ducos, Toupéti, etc.; Île des Pins and neighboring islets; and probably the remote dependency of Walpole Island.

Change history: 

1946: New Caledonia census showed the colony divided into five arrondissements, plus seven dependencies, as shown. The dependencies of Futuna and Alofi and Wallis Archipelago split from New Caledonia in 1961 to form Wallis and Futuna. Isle of Pines corresponds to l'Île des Pins commune; Loyalty Islands corresponds to Îles Loyauté province; the other dependencies are still dependencies now.

Name	Typ	Population
Canala	a	1,950
Chesterfield Islands	d
Futuna and Alofi	d
Houaïlou	a	2,241
Huon Islands	d
Isle of Pines	d	14
Loyalty Islands	d	166
Nouméa	a	11,446
Ouégoa	a	1,191
Touho	a	1,729
Wallis Archipelago	d
Walpole	d
Total		49,000
Typ: a = arrondissement, d = dependency. Population: 1946 census, counting Europeans only, except in the Total. Source: Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.

 

1988-11-09: New Caledonia reorganized into three provinces following a referendum. Before this date it had been divided into four provinces, formerly circonscriptions: Centre-Sud-Est (capital La Foa), Îles Loyauté, Nord, and Nouméa.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Îles Loyauté: Loyalty Islands (variant); Islas de la Lealtad (Spanish)