Country Fast Facts:New Caledonia

Europeans first sighted New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands in the late 18th century.

The British explorer James Cook sighted Grande Terre in 1774 and named it New Caledonia, Caledonia being the Latin name for Scotland.

During the same voyage he also named the islands to the north of New Caledonia the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), after the islands north of Scotland.

Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island was made a French possession in 1853.

It served as a penal colony for four decades after 1864. Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over a period of 15 to 20 years will transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia.

The agreement also commits France to conduct as many as three referenda between 2013 and 2018, to decide whether New Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population:
221,943 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.9% (male 31,578/female 30,270)
15-64 years: 65.3% (male 72,821/female 72,109)
65 years and over: 6.8% (male 7,047/female 8,118) (2007 est.)

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Median age:
total: 28.1 years
male: 27.7 years
female: 28.5 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate:
1.203% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate:
17.75 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate:
5.72 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: there has been steady emigration from Wallis and Futuna to New Caledonia (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.043 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.868 male(s)/female
total population: 1.009 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate:
total: 7.42 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 8.12 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 6.69 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.5 years
male: 71.52 years
female: 77.63 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate:
2.25 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

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Nationality:
noun: New Caledonian(s)
adjective: New Caledonian

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Ethnic groups:
Melanesian 42.5%, European 37.1%, Wallisian 8.4%, Polynesian 3.8%, Indonesian 3.6%, Vietnamese 1.6%, other 3%

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Religions:
Roman Catholic 60%, Protestant 30%, other 10%

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Languages:
French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

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Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96.2%
male: 96.8%
female: 95.5% (1996 census)

New Caledonia has about 25% of the world's known nickel resources. Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation, and food accounts for about 20% of imports. In addition to nickel, substantial financial support from France - equal to more than 15% of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy. Substantial new investment in the nickel industry, combined with the recovery of global nickel prices, brightens the economic outlook for the next several years.

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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$3.158 billion (2003 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate):
$3.3 billion (2003 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate:
NA%

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GDP - per capita (PPP):
$15,000 (2003 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 15%
industry: 8.8%
services: 76.2% (2003)

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Labor force:
78,990 (2004)

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Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 20%
industry: 20%
services: 60% (2002)

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Unemployment rate:
17.1% (2004)

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Population below poverty line:
NA%

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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% (2000 est.)

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Budget:
revenues: $996 million
expenditures: $1.072 billion (2001 est.)

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Agriculture - products:
vegetables; beef, deer, other livestock products; fish

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Industries:
nickel mining and smelting

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Industrial production growth rate:
-0.6% (1996)

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Electricity - production:
1.675 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption:
1.558 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2004)

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Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption:
10,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day

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Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl

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Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Exports:
$1.085 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

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Exports - commodities:
ferronickels, nickel ore, fish

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Exports - partners:
Japan 16.5%, France 12.7%, China 10.2%, Spain 8.9%, South Korea 8.4%, Belgium 6.9%, Italy 5.7%, Australia 4.4% (2006)

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Imports:
$1.78 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

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Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, foodstuffs

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Imports - partners:
France 38.7%, Singapore 15.2%, Australia 11.3%, NZ 4.8% (2006)

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Debt - external:
$79 million (1998 est.)

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Economic aid - recipient:
$525 million annual subsidy from France (2004)

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Currency (code):
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique franc (XPF)

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Exchange rates:
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique francs (XPF) per US dollar - 95.025 (2006), 95.89 (2005), 96.04 (2004), 105.66 (2003), 126.71 (2002)

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Fiscal year:
calendar year