Papua New Guinea

Independent State of Papua New Guinea
  • Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini (Tok Pisin)
  • Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini (Hiri Motu)
Motto: 'Unity in diversity'[1]
Anthem: "O Arise, All You Sons"[2]
Location of Papua New Guinea (green)
Location of Papua New Guinea (green)
Capital
and largest city
Port Moresby
09°28′44″S 147°08′58″E / 9.47889°S 147.14944°E / -9.47889; 147.14944
Official languages[3][4]
Indigenous languages
851 languages[5]
Ethnic groups
Religion
(2011 census)[6]
Demonym(s)Papua New Guinean
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch
Charles III
Bob Dadae
James Marape
LegislatureNational Parliament
Independence 
1 July 1949
16 September 1975
Area
• Total
462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi) (54th)
• Water (%)
2
Population
• 2021 estimate
Neutral increase 11,781,559[7] (81st)
• 2011 census
7,257,324[8]
• Density
15/km2 (38.8/sq mi) (201st)
GDP (PPP)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $41.785 billion[9] (124th)
• Per capita
Increase $3,403[9] (145th)
GDP (nominal)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $31.692 billion[9] (110th)
• Per capita
Decrease $2,581[9] (129th)
Gini (2009)41.9[10]
medium
HDI (2021)Increase 0.558[11]
medium (156th)
CurrencyKina (PGK)
Time zoneUTC+10, +11 (PNGST)
Driving sideleft
Calling code+675
ISO 3166 codePG
Internet TLD.pg

Papua New Guinea[a] is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). Officially[13] the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; Hiri Motu: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), it shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).[14]

At the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1883, including nearly 60 years of Australian administration starting during World War I, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975, becoming an independent Commonwealth realm with Elizabeth II as its queen. Since Elizabeth II's death in 2022, Charles III has been the country's king. It is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right.

There are 839 known languages of Papua New Guinea, making it the most linguistically diverse country in the world.[5] It is also one of the most rural countries, with only 13.25% of its population living in urban centres in 2019.[15] Most of its people live in customary communities.[16] Although government estimates reported the country's population to be 9.4 million, it was reported in December 2022 that its population was in fact closer to 17 million.[17][18] Papua New Guinea is the most populous Pacific island country.

The country is believed to be the home of many undocumented species of plants and animals.[19]

The sovereign state is classified as a developing economy by the International Monetary Fund;[20] nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers, living relatively independently of the cash economy.[21] Their traditional social groupings are explicitly acknowledged by the Papua New Guinea Constitution, which expresses the wish for "traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society"[22] and protects their continuing importance to local and national community life.

Papua New Guinea has been an observer state in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1976, and has filed its application for full membership status.[23] It is a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations,[24] the Pacific Community, and the Pacific Islands Forum.[25]

  1. ^ Somare, Michael (6 December 2004). "Stable Government, Investment Initiatives, and Economic Growth". Keynote address to the 8th Papua New Guinea Mining and Petroleum Conference. Archived from the original on 28 June 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
  2. ^ "Never more to rise". The National. 6 February 2006. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2005.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Sign language becomes an official language in PNG". Radio New Zealand. 21 May 2015. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Papua New Guinea Archived 3 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Ethnologue
  6. ^ Koloma. Kele, Roko. Hajily. "Papua New Guinea 2011 National Report-National Statistical Office". sdd.spc.int. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Population | National Statistical Office | Papua New Guinea".
  8. ^ "2011 National Population and Housing Census of Papua New Guinea – Final Figures". National Statistical Office of Papua New Guinea. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023 Edition. (PG)". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  10. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate)". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  11. ^ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  12. ^ Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.), English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-3-12-539683-8
  13. ^ "Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference world-atlas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Urban population (% of total population) – Papua New Guinea". data.worldbank.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  16. ^ James, Paul; Nadarajah, Yaso; Haive, Karen; Stead, Victoria (2012). Sustainable Communities, Sustainable Development: Other Paths for Papua New Guinea. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  17. ^ Lagan, Bernard (5 December 2022). "Papua New Guinea finds real population is almost double official estimates". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  18. ^ Fildes, Nic (5 December 2022). "Papua New Guinea's population size puzzles prime minister and experts". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  19. ^ Gelineau, Kristen (26 March 2009). "Spiders and frogs identified among 50 new species". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  20. ^ World Economic Outlook Database, October 2015 Archived 1 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, International Monetary Fund Archived 14 February 2006 at Archive-It. Database updated on 6 October 2015. Accessed on 6 October 2015.
  21. ^ World Bank. 2010. World Development Indicators. Washington DC.
  22. ^ "Constitution of Independent State of Papua New Guinea (consol. to amendment #22)". Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2005.
  23. ^ "Papua New Guinea keen to join ASEAN". The Brunei Times. 7 March 2016. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  24. ^ "Profile: The Commonwealth". 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  25. ^ "About Us – Forum Sec". Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).