KANAKY (New Caledonia’s) population has shrunk to 264,596 over the past six years, according to the April Census. In 2019 the population stood at 271,400. Jean Philippe Grouthier, census chef de mission at the French National statistical institute said that despite the 11,000-population growth (the difference between death and births), around 18,000 people left the territory. Airport statistics show a sharp increase in residents leaving New Caledonia for good, after the destructive and deadly riots that erupted in May 2014, causing 14 dead and over $USD2.31 billion in damages. The census was originally scheduled to take place in 2024 but had to be postponed due to the civil unrest. “New Caledonia is probably less attractive than it could have been in the 2000s and 2010s years,” Grouthier told local media on Tuesday.