Languages of New Caledonia at a glance
- 36living languages
- 2language families
- 304,000people (CLDR estimate)
- 1with a CLDR share
Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in New Caledonia. Areas are generalisations from published atlases and overlap, and a language that is mapped here is not necessarily spoken everywhere inside its area.
Languages spoken in New Caledonia
Languages with a Unicode CLDR share come first, biggest first by estimated speakers; the rest follow A to Z. Estimated speakers are the share applied to CLDR’s own population figure for the country.
Read more: where is French spoken?
Language families in New Caledonia
- Austronesian (33 languages)
- Indo-European (3 languages)
About these numbers
The list of languages in New Caledonia comes from the overlap of Glottography and Glottolog language areas and positions with the country outline, together with the languages Glottolog assigns to the country. The shares come from Unicode CLDR release 48 and are estimates. See every source and licence.
Questions about languages in New Caledonia
How many languages are spoken in New Caledonia?
36 living languages are mapped in New Caledonia, from 2 families. The number depends on how a catalogue decides where one language ends and another begins, so other sources give other totals.
What is the most spoken language in New Caledonia?
By Unicode CLDR's estimate, French is spoken by 99% of the population, about 301,125 people. Shares are approximate, can add up to more than 100% because many people speak several languages, and only cover languages CLDR has a figure for.
Which language families are found in New Caledonia?
Austronesian (33 languages) and Indo-European (3 languages).