Païta in the context of "Nouméa"

Nouméa (/nuːˈmeɪ.ə/ noo-MAY-uh, nyoo-, -⁠MEE-; French: [numea] ) is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian (Wallisians, Futunians, Tahitians), Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and indigenous Kanaks who work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour that serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.

Nouméa was greatly affected by the 2024 New Caledonia riots, which destroyed many businesses throughout the city and its suburbs, and pushed thousands of people to leave the Greater Nouméa area and move either to the rest of New Caledonia or to Metropolitan France. As a result, the April 2025 census recorded a marked population decline for Nouméa, with only 173,814 inhabitants living in the metropolitan area of Greater Nouméa (French: agglomération du Grand Nouméa), down from 182,341 at the 2019 census, and 85,976 in the city (commune) of Nouméa proper, down from 94,285 at the 2019 census. This is the first time since the start of statistical records that Greater Nouméa, which covers the communes of Nouméa, Le Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta, has experienced a population decline.