New Caledonia Civil Registration

New Caledonia

Civil Registration
Research use: Uniquely identifies individuals and connects them to their parents.

Record type: Civil records of birth, marriage, and death.

General: Civil registration begins late in Melanesia as compared to other areas of the world but it is the most complete source for genealogical purposes.

Time period: 1854-present.

Contents: Birth, marriage, and death records have the exact date of the event, including time of day for births; name of principal and parents; occupation and religious preference of parents; name of informant for births and names of witnesses for marriages; place of residence for parents of new born, of the groom and bride for marriages, and of the deceased for deaths; age at death, cause of death, and place of burial in death records.

Location: Local and national civil registry offices.

Population coverage: 90% coverage of the population.

Reliability: High.

Death records
Research use: Identify relationships and provide clues to other record sources.

Record type: Death inventories (notarial record concerning inheritance), declarations of succession, tombstone transcriptions, obituaries, sexton records, burials, and others.

General: Civil records generated in the event of death.

Time period: 1860-present.

Contents: Names, vital statistics; and in some sources names of kin and relationship to the deceased.

Location: Administrative offices at various levels and archives.

Population coverage: 40% of the population.

Reliability: High on death and relationship information but lower on dates and places of birth or marriage.