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Papua New Guinea

  • Capital Port Moresby (09°28′S, 147°08′E)
  • International airport(s) Jacksons International Airport
  • Official language(s) English, Hiri Motu, Papua New Guinean Sign Language, Tok Pisin
  • Currency Kina
  • Time UTC+10, UTC+11
  • Region Pacific
GeographyClimateEconomyCulture
Papua New Guinea is the world's 3rd largest island country, located north of Australia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and the offshore islands in Melanesia. The largest towns are located in the eastern part of New Guinea, including Lae and the capital city, Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea includes other major islands and up to 600 smaller islets and atolls.

A series of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs along the island of New Guinea. They form highlands that are mostly covered with tropical rainforest. Papua New Guinea hosts a range of ecosystems, such as mountain glaciers, humid tropical rainforests, swampy wetlands, and coral reefs. Because of dense rainforests and the large wetlands, some areas are only accessible by foot or by air. There are several active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea with frequent eruptions. Earthquakes are relatively common, sometimes accompanied by tsunamis.
Papua New Guinea has a monsoonal climate with high temperatures and humidity throughout the year. Two monsoonal seasons occur from December to March and from May to October. Rainfall exceeds 2 500mm in many areas of the country, with the heaviest rainfall in the highlands. Average monthly temperatures range from 24 to 26 °C. Papua New Guinea one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in the most elevated parts of the mainland. -—
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Papua New Guinea is prone to natural disasters and climate variability, and climactic changes are set to accelerate the occurrence of landslides, soil erosion, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity, as well as increase occurrence of recurrent floods and droughts. It is the world's 10th most at‐risk country for natural hazards, according to the United Nations University -—
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World Risk Index.
Agriculture, fishing, community forestry, and artisanal and small-scale mining are the primary livelihood activities in rural areas -—
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. Almost 60 per cent of all employed people worked in the agricultural sector in 2019 -—
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, even though the share of arable land is less than 1 per cent of total land area in Papua New Guinea -—
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. Palm oil, coffee, cocoa and coconut oil are among the main export products. The rich natural resources are an important source of export income, which include gold, oil, and copper. The top-3 destinations for exports are Australia, China and Japan -—
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Services employed a bit more than a third of people in the country in 2019 -—
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, which is less than in SIDS on average. Tourist arrivals have been close to 200 000 per year recently until 2019. Tourism expenditure remained of relatively small importance to the economy, at 0.02 per cent of GDP in 2018 -—
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. Papua New Guinea is classified as a lower middle income country -—
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and reached US$2 845 per capita in 2019 -—
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Papua New Guinea is a culturally diverse country. The share of urban population is low, reaching only 13 per cent in 2020 -—
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. The country includes a few thousand different cultural groups, many with their own languages. Wood carving is a popular handicraft skill in the country, often portraying imaginative plants or animals.

Traditional celebrations, which include song, dance, feasting and gift-giving, are called singsings. Vibrant and colorful costumes adorn the dancers, while a leader and a chorus sing a staggered approach to the same song, producing a fugue-like effect. Sport is important in Papua New Guinea, especially rugby league – one of the most popular sports in the country.

Papuan cuisine includes many starchy vegetables, such as wild sago, sweet potatoes, yams, rice and breadfruit, often served with bananas and coconuts. Meat comes from domesticated livestock and hunting of game like pork, cassowaries, marsupials and birds. On the coast, seafood, such as shellfish, is a key part of nutrition.
Land areakm2
Arable land%
Forest area%
Coastline
lengthkm
Exclusive economic zonekm2
Nearest
neighbourkm
Economic trendsMaritime transportPopulationInternational tradeEnvironmentInformation and communications technology
Gross domestic product
US dollars at constant prices (2015) in millions
GDP per capita

2019

US$

Productive Capacity Index

2018

Economic and environmental vulnerability index

2019

Consumer Price Index growth

2019

%

Unemployment
rate

Total %
Female %, Male %
Main economic sectors, 2019
Percentage of GDP
Tourist arrivals
Thousands of tourists, percentage of GDP
External financial resources
Percentage of GDP
Public debt as % of GDP

2018

%

Fleet size
Number of ships
Ship type20112019
Total fleet1 4071 407
Oil tankers264266
Bulk carriers311333
General cargo16177
Container ships5249
Other types of ships619682
Port performance
Ranked by 2019 data within SIDS group
Indicators2019SIDS Ranking
Number of port calls3 4787
Median time in port (days)18
Average age of vessels1328
Average size (GT) of vessels13 75621
Container port throuput

2019

TEU

Bilateral connectivity index, 2019
Top 5 partners
Liner shipping connectivity index
Maximum China Q1 2006=100
Total population
Thousands of people, share of urban population
Population development indicators
IndicatorsPeriodValue
Poverty headcount (% of population)200938
Human development index20180.5
Human assets index202053
Adult literacy rate (15+ years, both sexes %)....
Gender inequality index20190.7
Life expectancy at birth

years

Population density

2019

persons per km2
Dependency
ratio

2019

Child:
Old-age:
Age structure by gender, 2019
Percentage of total population
Merchandise and services trade
US dollars in millions
Indicators20052010201520192019 (% of GDP)
Merchandise exports3 2735 7428 45311 39945.7
Merchandise imports1 7293 9502 5513 93415.8
Services exports 303 309 146 2661.1
Services imports1 1672 7591 3381 5076
Trade openness
Goods and services

% of GDP

Export concentration index

2019

Food import
dependency
Average 2015-2019

Top 5 partners in merchandise trade, 2019
Exports in millions US dollars
Merchandise exports by product group, 2019
Services exports by category, 2019
CO2 emissions per capita
Kg per capita
CO2 emissions per GDP
Kg per 2010 US$ of GDP
Renewable energy share in total energy consumption, 2017
Percentage of total energy consumption
Material
footprint
per capita

2016

kg

Terrestrial
protected
area

2018

%

Marine
protected
area

2018

%

Disasters indicators
Data not available
Trade in ICT goods

Exports: %
Imports: %
Trade in ICT services

Exports: %
Imports: %
Share of
internet users

%

Fixed broadband vs Mobile broadband subscriptions
Number of subscriptions per 100 people
Sources
Source of data: -—
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except indicators listed below.
References
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