SEATTLE, Washington — New Caledonia is a French territory off the coast of Australia. Its population contains a mixture of European descendants and the Kanak, the island’s indigenous people. As of 2008, 17% of New Caledonians lived below the poverty line. However, poverty in New Caledonia does not stem from a lack of money but rather the distribution of it.
The Disparity in the Economy
New Caledonia has a thriving economy, often attributed to its nickel industry. However, the island’s economy is unbalanced due to income and employment inequality, resulting from educational differences between ethnic groups.
Only 3% of Kanaks go on to receive a post-secondary education, compared to 23% of the remaining population. Furthermore, the unemployment rate within the Kanak community stands at 38%, while the unemployment rate for the rest of the population is just a quarter of that figure.
Housing Issues
While the Kanak are underrepresented in education and employment, they are overrepresented in government-subsidized housing, as pollution disproportionately affects the water and land in which they reside.
New Caledonia’s subsidized housing is ill-equipped to accommodate the number of people who need it. Additionally, the structural quality and safety of this housing are questionable, since it was built by the government in the 1970s and inconsistently maintained since.
Currently, about 8,000 Kanaks live in ‘squats’ in Nouméa, New Caledonia’s capital, where most of the population resides. The unstable nature of squatting leaves individuals without a reliable source of clean water, electricity and waste removal.
Living in substandard sanitary conditions is the leading catalyst for infectious diseases and conditions like diarrhea and hepatitis A to ravage a community. It also exacerbates many issues tied to food insecurity, such as child stunting and malnutrition.
The Problem With Nutrition
While food scarcity itself is not an issue in New Caledonia, there are still nutrition disparities that disproportionately plague the Polynesian and Melanesian communities. This issue also affects the Kanak people and other populations located in predominantly rural areas.
A seemingly booming economy can encourage food prices to climb under the assumption that the population can afford it. However, the unequal distribution of wealth makes it difficult for a significant portion of the population to afford high-quality food. As a result, poorer communities end up purchasing cheaper, less nutritious options.
Uneven Prison Population
Another sign of poverty in New Caledonia manifests in the unbalanced composition of the territory’s prison population. In New Caledonian prisons, 90% of detainees are Kanak, with over half under the age of 25. This high rate of incarceration among the Kanak population only further inhibits their ability to move out of poverty. It also creates a predominantly transient population full of single-parent households with fewer incomes to invest back into the community.
It is worth noting that comparative data about socio-economic factors within the different populations of New Caledonia is not readily available. The French government maintains tight control over the collection and publication of data that breaks populations into separate ethnic components, making it difficult to target the issues hindering specific groups of people. Because of this, arguing that a particular population faces significant socio-economic problems to lawmakers can be challenging, potentially barring the creation of legislation that could help marginalized communities.
Although New Caledonia ranks among the 20 wealthiest countries in the world, poverty in New Caledonia still weighs heavily on the Kanak people. From the precarious ‘squats’ in which many live to the disproportionate incarceration rates to the nutrition deserts in an otherwise food-secure place, poverty in New Caledonia remains a problem. Only through balancing the distribution of the island’s wealth, in addition to improving sanitation, food and home security, will New Caledonia get closer to bridging the gap between these two deeply divided populations.
– Catherine Lin
Photo: Flickr