New Caledonia: population and ages

In mid-1950 there were 63,800 people, so the population is now 4.7 times as large.

The UN projects 4,040 births and 1,900 deaths in 2026, 2,140 more births than deaths.

The UN projects the first year with more deaths than births in 2060.

The median age is 34.8, which is 3.7 years above the world’s 31.1.

21% of the people are under 15 and 12% are 65 or older (world: 24% and 11%).

The UN projects that people aged 65 and over will outnumber children under 15 from 2040.

Women have 1.9 children on average at today’s rates (world: 2.2), against 5.1 in 1950.

Life expectancy at birth is 79.2 years, above the world’s 73.8. In 1950 it was 45.1.

For mid-2050 the UN projects 341,000 people, 14% more than now, with a median age of 40.6.

By the death rates of 2023, life expectancy at birth was 78.8 years. People who had reached 65 could expect 20.3 more years for women and 17.9 for men.

On 1 January 2026, there are 17.8 people aged 65 or more for every 100 aged 15 to 64. For 2050, the UN projects 34.9.

For 2100 the UN projects a population of 337,000, with a 95 percent prediction interval of 74,000 to 955,000.

Life expectancy at birth is a period measure. It sums up the death rates of one year and is not a forecast of how long the babies born that year will live.

In mid-2024, 76,700 international migrants lived here, 26.2% of the population.

In mid-2024, 5,080 people from here lived in other countries.