Oceania · Melanesia
Capital: Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea
Explore the facts and rankings that shape Papua New Guinea in Country Blitz, from its population and economy to its military, innovation, manufacturing, and neighboring countries.
Country Blitz power profile
Overall rank #136
Papua New Guinea's Country Blitz power profile compares population, GDP, military expenditure, research-and-development spending, and manufacturing output across every playable country. A lower numerical rank represents a stronger position in that category.
Population
10.8M
#91 of 196
54th percentile
2025 · World Bank WDI / UN population sources
View data source ↗GDP (Nominal)
$32.50B
#109 of 196
45th percentile
2025 · World Bank WDI
View data source ↗Military Expenditure
$91.0M
#147 of 196
25th percentile
2024 · SIPRI via World Bank WDI
View data source ↗R&D Spending
$6.6M
#131 of 196
33rd percentile
2016 · UNESCO UIS and World Bank WDI
View data source ↗Manufacturing Output
$507.4M
#149 of 196
24th percentile
2024 · World Bank WDI
View data source ↗Quick facts
- Capital
- Port Moresby
- Region
- Oceania
- Subregion
- Melanesia
- Country code
- PNG
- Neighbors
- Indonesia
Three interesting facts
Papua New Guinea shares land borders with 1 country: Indonesia.
Papua New Guinea spans roughly 462,840 square kilometers, placing it around 54th by area in this factbook.
Papua New Guinea has only one land neighbor, creating an unusually concentrated overland connection.
Geography
Papua New Guinea on the map
Papua New Guinea is located in 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. Its terrain is mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills. The climate is tropical, northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October), slight seasonal temperature variation. In area, the country is slightly larger than California.
Economy
Economic profile
Papua New Guinea's economy is characterized by lower-middle-income Pacific island economy, primarily informal agrarian sector, natural-resource-rich and key exporter of liquified natural gas, collapse in betel nut prices, tighter monetary policy, and improved foreign-exchange availability contributing to declining inflation, challenges include lack of progress in infrastructure, agricultural reform, and corruption. Major industries include oil and gas, mining (gold, copper, and nickel), palm oil processing, plywood and wood chip production, copra crushing, construction, tourism, fishing, livestock (pork, poultry, cattle) and dairy farming, spice products (turmeric, vanilla, ginger, cardamom, chili, pepper, citronella, and nutmeg). Important agricultural products include oil palm fruit, coconuts, bananas, fruits, sweet potatoes, game meat, yams, root vegetables, vegetables, sugarcane (2023). Notable exports include natural gas, gold, copper ore, palm oil, nickel (2023).
Demographics
People and population
Papua New Guinea has an estimated population of 11,781,559. Languages spoken include Tok Pisin (official), English (official), Hiri Motu (official), some 839 living indigenous languages are spoken (about 12% of the world's total). The population includes Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian. The urban population represents 13.7% of total population (2023).
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