Eventually, the stalemate was resolved when the local New Caledonian statistical office (a branch of the national French statistical office INSEE) agreed to ask questions regarding ethnicity. However, it is not known whether questions regarding ethnicity were asked to all residents of New Caledonia, and at any rate no data have been released, leaving the ethnic tables from the 1996 census as the only information on ethnicity currently available.According to the 31 August 2004 census, there were 230,789 inhabitants in New Caledonia.2 - This figure has increased to 249,000 as of 1 January 2009 official estimates. -