Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Papua New Guinea.
note 1: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; generally east-west trending highlands break up New Guinea into diverse ecoregions; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast
note 2: two major food crops apparently developed on the island of New Guinea: bananas and sugarcane
note 3: Papua New Guinea is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire
. Mother's mean age at first birth is 21.9 years (2016/18) (Note: data represents median age a first birth among women 25-49), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 192 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)Location | Oceania, 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 |
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Geographic coordinates | 6 00 S, 147 00 E |
Map references | Oceania |
Tarrain | mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills |
Natural Resources | gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries |
Natural Hazards | active volcanism; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis volcanism: severe volcanic activity; Ulawun (2,334 m), one of Papua New Guinea's potentially most dangerous volcanoes, has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Rabaul (688 m) destroyed the city of Rabaul in 1937 and 1994; Lamington erupted in 1951 killing 3,000 people; Manam's 2004 eruption forced the island's abandonment; other historically active volcanoes include Bam, Bagana, Garbuna, Karkar, Langila, Lolobau, Long Island, Pago, St. Andrew Strait, Victory, and Waiowa; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
Irrigated Land | 0 sq km (2022) |
Major rivers (by length in km) | Sepik river source and mouth (shared with Indonesia) - 1,126 km; Fly river source and mouth (shared with Indonesia) - 1,050 km |
Major aquifers | |
Land Boundaries | 824 km |
Border Countries | Indonesia 824 km |
Coastline | 5,152 km |
Climate | tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation |
Area | |
Total Area | |
Land Area | 452,860 sq km |
Water Area | 9,980 sq km |
comparative Area | slightly larger than California |
Maritime Claims | |
Territorial sea | 12 nm |
Continental shelf | 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
Exclusive fishing zone | 200 nm |
Elevations | |
Highest point | Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m |
Lowest point | Pacific Ocean 0 m |
Mean elevation | 667 m |
Land Use | |
Agricultural land | 2.6% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 0.7% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 1.5% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 0.4% (2018 est.) |
Forest | 63.1% (2018 est.) |
Other | 34.3% (2018 est.) |
Population concentrated in the highlands and eastern coastal areas on the island of New Guinea; predominantly a rural distribution with only about one-fifth of the population residing in urban areas
In Papua New Guinea, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian
Population | |
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Pop growth rate | 2.26% (2024 est.) |
Birth rate | 28.1 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Death rate | 5.4 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Health expenditure | 2.5% of GDP (2020) |
Physicians Density | |
Hospital bed Density | |
Total fertility rate | 3.79 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
Gross reproduction rate | 1.85 (2024 est.) |
Contraceptive prevalence rate | 36.7% (2016/18) |
Est married women (ages 15-49) | 65.5% (2023 est.) |
Literacy | age 15 and over can read and write |
Education expenditures | 1.4% of GDP (2020 est.) |
Net Migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Nationality | Papua New Guinean | Papua New Guinean(s) |
Languages | Tok Pisin (official), English (official), Hiri Motu (official), some 839 living indigenous languages are spoken (about 12% of the world's total) |
Religions | Protestant 64.3% (Evangelical Lutheran 18.4%, Seventh Day Adventist 12.9%, Pentecostal 10.4%, United Church 10.3%, Evangelical Alliance 5.9%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.8%, Salvation Army 0.4%), Roman Catholic 26%, other Christian 5.3%, non-Christian 1.4%, unspecified 3.1% (2011 est.) |
Age Structure | |
0-14 years | 37.1% (male 1,902,272/female 1,825,471) |
15-64 years | 58.9% (male 2,991,479/female 2,923,410) |
65 years and over | 4% (2024 est.) (male 198,511/female 205,090) |
Dependency Ratios | |
Total dependency ratio | 60.5 |
Youth dependency ratio | 55.5 |
Elderly dependency ratio | 5 |
Potential support ratio | 20.1 (2021 est.) |
Median Age | |
Total | 21.7 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 21.6 years |
Female | 21.9 years |
Urbanization | |
Urban population | 13.7% of total population (2023) |
Rate of urbanization | 2.91% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
Major urban areas (Pop) | 410,000 PORT MORESBY (capital) (2023). |
Sex Ratio | |
At birth | 1.05 male(s)/female |
0-14 years | 1.04 male(s)/female |
15-64 years | 1.02 male(s)/female |
65 years and over | 0.97 male(s)/female |
Total population | 1.03 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
Infant Motality | |
Total | 32 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
Male | 35.3 deaths/1,000 live births |
Female | 28.6 deaths/1,000 live births |
Life Expectancy at birth | |
Total population | 70.1 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 68.3 years |
Female | 71.9 years |
Drinking Water Sources | |
Improved: urban | urban: 86.2% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 41.5% of population |
Improved: total | total: 47.5% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 13.8% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 58.5% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 52.5% of population (2020 est.) |
Sanitation facility acess | |
Improved: urban | urban: 57.8% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 18.2% of population |
Improved: total | total: 23.5% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 42.2% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 81.8% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 76.5% of population (2020 est.) |
Alcohol consumption per capita | |
Total | 1.26 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Beer | 0.6 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Wine | 0.06 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Spirits | 0.6 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Other alcohols | 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Tobacco use | |
Total | 39.3% (2020 est.) |
Male | 53.5% (2020 est.) |
Female | 25.1% (2020 est.) |
Child marriage | |
Women married by age 15 | 8% |
Women married by age 18 | 27.3% |
Men married by age 18 | 3.7% (2018 est.) |
Want to know more about Papua New Guinea? Check all different factbooks for Papua New Guinea below.