Figures just released from New Caledonia's 2014 census show the Kanak population is now 39 percent of the population, with Europeans making up 27 percent.
New Caledonia's capital Noumea. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
The census details released by the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies show the territory's population has grown by nearly 10 percent since the previous census in 2009 to reach 268,767.
That is an annual increase of 1.8 percent.
The French Polynesian population in New Caledonia is growing while the Wallisian and Futuna community now makes up a smaller percentage than previously, at 8.2 percent.
The statistics also show that Kanaks constitute 94 percent of the population of the Loyalty Islands and 70 percent in the Northern Province.
Seventy five percent of the territory's total population is in the Southern Province, with a third of them European, just over a quarter Kanak and nearly 11 percent from Wallis and Futuna.