Link to PNG Country Report
| Introduction | Papua New Guinea is the largest developing country in the South Pacific region. Its 463,000 square kilometres of land area, a sea area of 3.12 million square kilometres and 600 separate islands make up one of the most diverse repositories of geographic, biological, linguistic and cultural wealth on earth. PNG has more than 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the world's total land area. |
| Population | Population: 6,577,000 Population growth rate: 2.7% Life expectancy: 57 years |
| Geography | Papua New Guinea (PNG) occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, as well as numerous smaller islands and atolls. The country's geography is extremely diverse with a spine of rugged mountains running the length of the island forming the Highlands, (1200 - 2800m). The coastal plains feature spectacular coral reefs and many hundreds of smaller islands with the most notable being New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville. Its neighbours are Indonesia to the west, Australia to the south, the Solomon Islands to the east and the U.S. territory of Guam to the north. The land area is approximately 463,000km² with only 27% of the total landmass inhabited. Large variations in landform cause an extremely diverse range of natural environments. There are 24 dormant and 16 active volcanoes and eruptions are frequent. A number of major rivers drain the mainland, including the Sepik River in the north and the Fly River in the South. These rivers have associated swamps and seasonally inundated floodplains that cover large areas. Almost 50% of the total land area is mountainous and 20% is seasonally or permanently flooded. |
| Religion | PNG's constitution declares that PNG is a Christian country. About 27 % are Catholics, 19 % Evangelical Lutheran, 11.5 % belong to the United Church and the remaining Christians follow the Evangelical Alliance, Seventh-Day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist and Anglican churches. Declared Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus each number in the hundreds. |
| Government | PNG is a Realm within the Commonwealth with a democratically elected government based on the Westminster model. Executive power lies with the Prime Minister and the National Executive Council (NEC) - the Cabinet. Head of State: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second Governor-General Elect: Michael Ogio Prime Minister: Grand Chief Rt Hon Sir Michael Somare MP, GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, K St J |
| Economics | GDP (purchasing power parity) $14.9billion. PNG has a relatively small dual economy, made up of a formal and informal economy. The formal economy is dominated by large-scale resource projects, particularly in mining and petroleum, and provides a large proportion of government revenue. The informal economy supports 85% of the people through semi-subsistence agriculture. The formal sector employs around 15% of the workforce. |
| Health | The leading causes of death in PNG are malaria, pneumonia, peri-natal deaths, tuberculosis, meningitis, heart disease, cancer, accidents and violence. PNG also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in East Asia with more than 2,600 deaths every year. Health care remains basic and many of these deaths could be prevented with more medicinal care and advice. HIV/AIDS has become one of the leading causes of death in Port Moresby and elsewhere in the country. PNG currently has the highest HIV/Aids infection rate in East Asia. PNG is likely to become a major HIV/AIDS epicentre within ten years. There were over 500 new HIV cases reported in 2009 HIV/AIDS Prevalence: 2.56% of adult population (aged 15-49 yrs) |
| Legislation | http://www.paclii.org/databases.html#PG |
| Related Websites | The World Factbook - Papua New Guinea UNICEF - Papua New Guinea World Health Organization - Papua New Guinea |