Papua New Guinea
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Papua New Guinea is one of our closest neighbours, the mainland
consisting of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the
west part being West Papua, part of Indonesia. Once Australian
territory and still a member of the Commonwealth, PNG became
independent in 1975.
Papua New Guinea is incredibly culturally diverse, with over 850
indigenous languages. It is also highly biodiverse, being one of
the earth's megadiverse regions. PNG is a very mountainous and
natural resource rich nation, though there are concerns over
deforestation and pollution from mining projects.
With around 40% of the population living in poverty and the
highest HIV/AIDS rate in the region, PNG faces some tough
development challenges.
Contact our Papua
New Guinea program office.
Development Issues
Socio-economic issues
Health issues
Environmental issues
Socio-economic issues
PNG's socio-economic position has been ranked lower than all
other Pacific countries (as measured by the Human Development
Index).
Despite an abundance of natural resources, it is estimated that
more than 42 per cent of the population live on less than US$1 a
day. Fortunately, employment rose sharply across most sectors in
2006. Nevertheless, urban unemployment remains very high.
Complicating matters further is that wealth and prosperity is not
equally distributed throughout PNG.
PNG's educational system itself is also a source of concern.
Only an estimated 57 per cent of the population are literate and
school enrolment levels trail below the average for all low income
states. There is also a wide gender disparity at the secondary and
tertiary levels of education.
For up-to-date information and statistics on socio-economic
development issues in Papua New Guinea, please refer to the
following sources:
UNDP in PNG
World Bank - PNG Country Brief
Asian Development Bank - PNG Country
Information
Health issues
Many health indicators in PNG have deteriorated in recent years.
One of the main reasons for this is the major shortage in trained
medical personnel. This situation is exasperated by the fact that
the population of PNG is dispersed across a vast area and numerous
islands - making it even more difficult to provide cost effective
health services to the isolated areas and outer islands.
HIV/AIDS has also become a major issue in PNG. It has been
identified as a major threat to the development of the nation, with
the country becoming the fourth country in the Asia-Pacific region
(the first Pacific country) to have a generalised HIV epidemic.
For up-to-date information and statistics on health and HIV/AIDS
in Papua New Guinea, please refer to the following sites:
WHO Papua New Guinea country profile
UNAIDS page on Papua New Guinea
Environmental issues
PNG has suffered from some serious environmental problems since
the start of its economic development. Some of the most pressing
issues include deforestation, species extinction, land degradation
and pollution.
Forests cover about 65 per cent of the total land area of PNG.
Large expanses of this forest area are harvested annually from poor
logging operations. As PNG loses its forest, plant and animal
diversity is also threatened. A large amount of PNG's forested area
is tropical rainforest that is rich in both plant and animal
biodiversity, increasing the impact of deforestation on flora and
fauna. Unsustainable hunting is also an issue that has threatened a
number of species in PNG.
Water pollution is mainly caused by manufacturing activities,
illegal dynamite fishing in most coastal areas and dumping of
tailings by mining companies into rivers. Coastal villages in most
parts of the country also contribute to pollution by dumping
household wastes into the ocean. Land pollution is mainly caused by
disposal of solid and household wastes.
For further information, please refer to the following
resources:
World Bank - PNG Environment Statistics
(pdf)
Papua New Guinea Country Report (pdf)
(Presented to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific at the Third Sub-regional Training Workshop on
Environment Statistics)