8 Billion Lives
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Where you could be born / Oceania / Melanesia

Born in New Caledonia

About 1 in 32,222 people born in 2023 started life in New Caledonia. A boy can expect to live 76 years and a girl 81, up from 41 and 50 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 32,222
odds of being born here
4,100 births · Ranked 186th of 230
76 / 81
years of life, boys / girls
Was 41 / 50 in 1950
1.98
children per woman
Ranked 112th of 230
68%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 33 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 186 in every 1,000 births to 12.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
050100150200195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth76.3 years for boys, 81.3 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 511.8 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year2,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people2.0World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year17 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 5.1 children on average in 1950. Now it is 2.0, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
0246195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.98UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth30.5 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

Unemployment10.9% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises0.6% a year (2016)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person1.8% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming2% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed17% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment94% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Nouméa, with 93,060 people.

68%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
100%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Nouméa93,060
Mont-Dore24,680
Dumbéa19,346
Languages
Share of people who can use each
French99%
French is official.

People on the move

About 1.7% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are French Polynesia, Australia, Wallis and Futuna Islands.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
French Polynesia2,237
Australia1,520
Wallis and Futuna Islands1,016
Residents born abroad26.2% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 1.7% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostFrench Polynesia (2,237), Australia (1,520), Wallis and Futuna Islands (1,016)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $621.1 million a year (2016)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

99% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 15%.

99%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
15%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2020)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 2024314Our World in Data, from WHO
Hurricane-strength storms since 198013NOAA IBTrACS

Now live it.

Born in New Caledonia, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in New Caledonia

Elsewhere in Oceania

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How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences