Changement démographique et social en Nouvelle-Calédonie après les accords de Matignon

Baudchon Gérard, Rallu Jean-Louis.- Demographic and social change in New Caledonia after the Matignon Agreements The Matignon Agreements were intended to prepare New Caledonia for self-determination in 1998, by reducing the inequalities between the regions and between the communities. Major improvements have occurred in life expectancy and fertility. It is doubtless in educational attainment that the disparities have been reduced the least in ten years, including among young people. The aid which accompanied the Matignon Agreements has on the whole been beneficial to economic activity in the Territory, though the imbalances have tended to increase. Immigrants, mainly from mainland France and drawn in with the flow of financial aid, make up the second largest migratory wave after that of the nickel boom of 1969. They have settled mainly in the region of Noumea, which has experienced the strongest growth in employment in both relative and absolute terms, within a highly dualist labour market which is more favourable to immigrants than to locals.