New Caledonia

Year

INTRODUCTION

download PDF version | acronyms | definitions

Direction des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales de Nouvelle-CalÉdonie
DASS – New Caledonia, B.P. N4, 98851 Noumea Cedex
Tel:(687) 24.37.00
Fax:(687) 24.37.02
dass@gouv.nc
http://www.dass.gouv.nc
WHO Representative for the South Pacific
Level 4, Provident Plaza 1, Downtown Boulevard, 33 Ellery Street, Suva
Tel:(679) 330 4600 / 330 4631/ 330 4635 / 331 7447
Fax:(679) 330 0462 / 331 1530
who@sp.wpro.who.int

New Caledonia is a French overseas country located 1500 kilometres (km) east of Australia and 1700 km north of New Zealand, in the south-west Pacific Ocean.  Part of Melanesia, New Caledonia is the third largest island state in the south Pacific, after New Guinea and New Zealand.  It comprises one large island and several smaller islands.  The total land area comprises 19 100 km2.  The territory has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1 740 000 km2.  New Caledonia is self-governing.  It has a three-tiered system of administration: metropolitan France (represented by the High Commissioner), the territorial congress and the provincial assemblies.

New Caledonia’s tropical climate has an average annual temperature of 23 degrees Celsius with little variation (of only 6 or 7 degrees throughout the year).  During the wet season (December to March), cyclones can bring heavy rains.  The east coast receives about twice the rainfall of the west coast.  The average rainfall is 2000 millimetres (mm) in the east compared with 1000 mm in the west, including Noumea.

The indigenous population is Melanesian but the population also includes Europeans, Asians and other Polynesians.  In 2003 the population was estimated to be some 223 000 with a population density of 11 persons per km2.  The natural per annum growth rate is 1.5%.

Table 1.  Core population and health data (2001)

Population

[Total]

223 293 (2003 est.)

Life expectancy
at birth (years)

[Both]

73.10

[0-14 years]

66 943 (29.98%)

[Male]

70.50

[65+ years]

11 656 (5.22%)

[Female]

76.10

Crude birth rate
(per 1000 population)

 

20.20

Total fertility rate

 

2.40

Crude death rate
(per 1000 population)

 

5.30

% of population served with safe water

[Total]

100.00 (1996)

[Urban]

…

[Rural]

…

Infant mortality rate
(per 1000 live births)

 

4.90

% of population with adequate sanitary facilities

[Total]

90.30 (1996)

[Urban]

…

[Rural]

…

Maternal mortality rate
(per 100 000 live births)

 

33.30 (1991-2001)

 

 

 

est.: estimate

Disclaimer: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply the expression of an opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or areas or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.