Demographics
Papua New Guinea has an estimated population of around 6.5 million, 40% under the age of 15. Around 800 languages are spoken, each language group having a distinct culture, and there are large sociocultural differences between and within provinces. The official languages are English, Pidgin and Motu.
Access to widely scattered rural communities (86% of the country’s population is living in rural areas) is often difficult, slow and expensive. Only 3% of the roads are paved and many villages can only be reached on foot. Most travel between provinces is by air. The capital, Port Moresby, is not linked by road with the rest of the country.
Papua New Guinea has made some progress in social development over the last 30 years. Literacy rates have risen from 32% to 56%. However, only half of all women aged 15 years and above and two-thirds of all men aged 15 years and older have ever attended school, and enrolment rates vary significantly across provinces. Women have a very high fertility rate of 4.6 births per woman. Life expectancy has risen from 49 to 53 years and, in 2000, the crude death rate was 12 per 1000 population. Papua New Guinea’s Human Development Index has risen from 0.43 to 0.53. However, progress has slowed in recent years.
Political situation
Papua New Guinea is divided administratively into four regions: Southern Coastal (Papuan) Region, Northern Coastal (MoMaSe = Morobe, Madang and Sepik provinces) Region, Highlands Region, and New Guinea Islands Region. The governance system is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model. As a member of the Commonwealth, the head of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the Governor-General, who is elected by the National Parliament for a five-year term.
The current single-chamber Parliament has 109 members, comprising one representative from each of the nineteen provinces and the National Capital District and one representative from each of the 89 open constituencies. Every five years, the political leaders are elected at the two tiers of government: national and local. Presently, there is only one woman representative in the national Parliament. There is a decentralized system of government. At the subnational level, there are three levels of administration: provincial, district and local (including several communes with their villages).
Socioeconomic situation
During the 1990s, economic performance was mixed, although the economy benefited greatly from major mining and petroleum projects. While there was the potential for economic and social development, the period was largely characterized by negative economic growth and macroeconomic instability. As a result, the economy grew very little in real terms, with growth in the non-mining sector more sluggish than that in the mining sector.
The reasons for the economic stagnation are complex. External contributing factors included the worldwide economic depression, the negative development in commodity prices, and unfavourable trade conditions, among others, while internal factors included a series of inappropriate policy regimes and fiscal failures, the catastrophic civil war in Bougainville from 1989 to 1999, and a series of devastating national disasters.
In recent years, the economic parameters have shown a more stable situation and a slightly more positive trend. However, this was caused by the rising prices of mining products on the international markets rather than by improved internal performance.
Because of the economic situation as well as the widespread evidence of deterioration in public services, especially in rural areas, it is a widely held view that living standards for a significant number of Papua New Guineans have declined since 1990. Furthermore, in spite of the increasing cost of living, salaries have changed very little over a long period, contributing to a static or possibly worsening poverty situation, particularly in the urban sector. In 2003 Papua New Guinea developed a poverty-reduction strategy that is intended to give an added focus to poverty in the existing national Medium-Term Development Strategy (MTDS, 2003–2007). The country is a signatory to the Millennium Development Declaration. The first MDG progress report was published in 2005.
Vulnerabilities and hazards
Papua New Guinea is prone to numerous chronic natural hazards as well as the occasional acute disaster situation, on a scale greater than any of its Pacific neighbours. The repertoire of hazards that continually hamper the development process in urban and rural remote locations of the country include volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, large-scale landslides, flooding, sporadic droughts, frosts in highland areas, the impact of climate change and variability and rising sea levels. There is also a high risk of technical and human-made disasters, such as oil spills, industrial pollution and unregulated and destructive land-use practices.
Papua New Guinea is situated on the boundary between the Pacific and the Australian tectonic plates. The country has eight active volcanoes and is subject to regular earthquakes every year, secondary effects of this activity including tsunamis and landslides. The most recent disasters have included:
- November 2004 Volcanic activity on Manam Island, displacing about 10 000 people.
- July 2006: Bialla (West New Britain Province) seismo-volanic event, which displaced about 2000 people; no deaths were reported.
- October 2006: Tavurvur (East New Britain Province) volcanic eruption, which displaced about 1200 people; no deaths were directly attributable to the eruption.
- December 2007: Cyclone Guba, with torrential rains, affected 10 000 people through flooding in Oro Province.
A major challenge to improving health is related to perceptions of illness and health among the general population. There is a widespread lack of awareness regarding risk-related and health-promoting behaviour, and little involvement by local communities in health-promoting activities. Key risks include behaviour and environments that increase the risks of communicable disease; risks of noncommunicable disease, such as chewing Betel and smoking tobacco; and the risks associated with unsafe sexual behaviour.