Facts About Papua New Guinea
Background: The eastern half of the island of New Guinea – second largest in the world – was divided between Germany (north) and the UK (south) in 1885. The latter area was transferred to Australia in 1902, which occupied the northern portion during World War I and continued to administer the combined areas until independence in 1975. A nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997, after claiming some 20,000 lives.
Government type: parliamentary democracy
Capital: Port Moresby
Currency: 1 kina (K) = 100 toea
Geography of Papua New Guinea
Location: Southeastern Asia, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia
Geographic coordinates: 6 00 S, 147 00 E
Area:
total: 462,840 sq km
land: 452,860 sq km
water: 9,980 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 820 km
border countries: Indonesia 820 km
Coastline: 5,152 km
Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m
Natural resources: gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries
Land use:
arable land: 0.1%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 92.9%
other: 6% (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: active volcanism; situated along the Pacific “Rim of Fire”; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis
Environment – current issues: rain forest subject to deforestation as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution from mining projects; severe drought.
Environment – international agreements:
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography – note: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world’s largest swamps along southwest coast
People of Papua New Guinea
The indigenous population of Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous in the world. Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people. Divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of these communities have engaged in tribal warfare with their neighbors for centuries.
The isolation created by the mountainous terrain is so great that some groups, until recently, were unaware of the existence of neighboring groups only a few kilometers away. The diversity, reflected in a folk saying, “For each village, a different culture,” is perhaps best shown in the local languages. Spoken mainly on the island of New Guinea–composed of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of West Papua–about 650 of these languages have been identified; of these, only 350-450 are related. The remainder seem to be totally unrelated either to each other or to the other major groupings. Native languages are spoken by a few hundred to a few thousand, although Enga, used in Enga Province, is spoken by some 130,000 people. Most native languages are extremely complex grammatically.
Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca. English is spoken by educated people and in Milne Bay Province.
The overall population density is low, although pockets of overpopulation exist. Papua New Guinea’s Western Province averages one person per square kilometer (3 per sq. mi.). The Chimbu Province in the New Guinea highlands averages 20 persons per square kilometer (60 per sq. mi.) and has areas containing up to 200 people farming a square kilometer of land. The highlands have 40% of the population.
A considerable urban drift toward Port Moresby and other major centers has occurred in recent years. Between 1978 and 1988, Port Moresby grew nearly 8% per year, Lae 6%, Mount Haven 6.5%, Goroka 4%, and Madang 3%. The trend toward urbanization accelerated in the 1990s, bringing in its wake squatter settlements, unemployment, and attendant social problems.
Almost two-thirds of the population is Christian. Of these, more than 700,000 are Catholic, more than 500,000 Lutheran, and the balance are members of other Protestant denominations. Although the major churches are under indigenous leadership, a large number of missionaries remain in the country. The bulk of the estimated 2,500 Americans resident in Papua New Guinea are missionaries and their families. The non-Christian portion of the indigenous population practices a wide variety of religions that are an integral part of traditional culture, mainly animism (spirit worship) and ancestor cults.
Foreign residents are just over 1% of the population. More than half are Australian; others are from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United States. Since independence, about 900 foreigners have become naturalized citizens.
The traditional Papua New Guinea social structure includes the following characteristics:
- The practice of subsistence economy;
- Recognition of bonds of kinship with obligations extending beyond the immediate family group;
- Generally egalitarian relationships with an emphasis on acquired, rather than inherited, status; and
- A strong attachment of the people to land.
Most Papua New Guineans still adhere strongly to this traditional social structure, which has its roots in village life.
Population: 5,545,268 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 38.7%
15-64 years: 57.63%
65 years and over: 3.67%
Population growth rate: 2.43%
Birth rate: 32.15 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 7.88 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate: 58.21 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 63.46 years
male: 61.39 years
female: 65.64 years
Total fertility rate: 4.3 children born/woman
Nationality:
noun: Papua New Guinean(s)
adjective: Papua New Guinean
Ethnic groups: Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian
Religions: Roman Catholic 22%, Lutheran 16%, Presbyterian/Methodist/London Missionary Society 8%, Anglican 5%, Evangelical Alliance 4%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1%, other Protestant 10%, indigenous beliefs 34%
Languages: English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region
note: 715 indigenous languages
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 72.2%
male: 81%
female: 62.7% (1995 est.)
Papua New Guinea Economy
Economy – overview: Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, but exploitation has been hampered by the rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure. Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population. Mineral deposits, including oil, copper, and gold, account for 72% of export earnings. The 3.4% average annual growth rate of GDP during 1979-1998 conceals considerable year-to-year variation resulting from external economic shocks, natural disasters, and economic management problems. There has been little growth in the last half of the 1990s, with real GDP in 1999 barely 3% higher than in 1994, not enough to compensate for population growth. A new administration under the leadership of Prime Minister Mekere MORAUTA in July 1999 has promised to restore integrity to state institutions, to stabilize the kina, to restore stability to the national budget, to privatize public enterprises where appropriate, and to ensure ongoing peace on Bougainville. The government has had considerable success in attracting international support, specifically gaining the support of the IMF and the World Bank in securing development assistance loans. Significant challenges remain for MORAUTA, however, including gaining further investor confidence, specifically for the proposed Papua New Guinea-Australia oil pipeline, continuing efforts to privatize government assets, and in maintaining the support from members of Parliament who after 15 July 2001 can dismiss him with a vote of no-confidence.
GDP: purchasing power parity – $12.2 billion (2000 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 2.9% (2000 est.)
GDP – per capita: purchasing power parity – $2,500 (2000 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 30%
industry: 35%
services: 35% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.7%
highest 10%: 40.5% (1996)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 17% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 1.941 million
Labor force – by occupation: agriculture 85%
Budget:
revenues: $1.6 billion
expenditures: $1.9 billion (1998 est.)
Industries: copra crushing, palm oil processing, plywood production, wood chip production; mining of gold, silver, and copper; crude oil production; construction, tourism
Electricity – production: 1.82 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity – production by source:
fossil fuel: 54.95%
hydro: 45.05%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity – consumption: 1.693 billion kWh (1999)
Agriculture – products: coffee, cocoa, coconuts, palm kernels, tea, rubber, sweet potatoes, fruit, vegetables; poultry, pork
Exports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports – commodities: oil, gold, copper ore, logs, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, crayfish and prawns
Exports – partners: Australia 30%, Japan 12%, Germany 7%, South Korea 4%, Philippines 3%, UK 3% (1999)
Imports: $1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports – commodities: machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, fuels, chemicals
Imports – partners: Australia 53%, Singapore 13%, Japan 6%, US 4%, New Zealand 4%, Malaysia 4% (1999)
Debt – external: $2.9 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid – recipient: $400 million (1999 est.)
Currency: kina (PGK)
Map Of Papua New Guinea
