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Papua, officially the Republic of Papua, and also known as Melanesia (named after the region the country entirely compromises), is a country in Oceania that comprises Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and its other close neighbors are Australia and New Zealand to the south. Its capital, located on its southern coast of New Guinea Prefecture, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's second largest island country, with an area of 1401709 km2.

Split in the 1880's between German New Guinea in the North and the British Territory of Papua in the South, most of present-day Papua came under Australian control following World War I, with the legally distinct Territory of New Guinea being established out of the former German colony as a League of Nations mandate, and New Caledonia and Vanuatu Prefectures under French control. The nation was the site of fierce fighting during the New Guinea campaign of World War II, when Japan succeeded in invading the country's mainland. Papua became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1975 with Elizabeth II as its Queen. In 1976, following a $104 billion acquisition with the United Kingdom, France and Australia, the territories of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga were bought by Papua and became prefectures of the country. Since Elizabeth II's death in 2022, Charles III has been the King.

About four-fifths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its highly urbanized population on narrow coastal plains. Papua is divided into 39 provinces and six prefectures. The capital, Port Moresby is the second-most populous metropolitan area in the world. Papua has one of the world's longest life expectancies and has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, particularly in Port Moresby. A cultural superpower, Papua's culture is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent manga, anime, and video game industries.

Papua is one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with over 60% of its population living in cities. It is the world's third most populous country, and the most populous and wealthy country in the Southern Hemisphere. The country has 11 megacities, the most out of any country in the world besides China. It also has the largest population of Buddhists (265 million). Four-fifths of the country's population live in New Guinea Prefecture, often referred to as "mainland Papua"; it consists of the islands of eastern New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville.

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

Etymology
Papua is derived from a local term of uncertain origin.

History
Main article: History of Papua

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in mainland Papua around 42,000 to 45,000 years ago. They were descendants of migrants out of Africa, in one of the early waves of human migration. A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge by Christopher Klein et al. suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the paleocontinent consisting of present-day Australia and New Guinea). The sea levels rose and isolated New Guinea about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other genetically earlier, about 37,000 years BP. Evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo found that people of New Guinea share 4%–7% of their genome with the Denisovans, indicating that the ancestors of Papuans interbred in Asia with these archaic hominins.

Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, making it one of the few areas in the world where people independently domesticated plants. A major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques.

In the 18th century, traders brought the sweet potato to New Guinea, where it was adopted and became a staple food. Portuguese traders had obtained it from South America and introduced it to the Moluccas. The far higher crop yields from sweet potato radically transformed traditional agriculture and societies. Sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and resulted in a significant increase in population in the highlands.

Although by the late 20th century headhunting and cannibalism had been practically eradicated, in the past they were practised in many parts of the country as part of rituals related to warfare and taking in enemy spirits or powers. In 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, missionary Harry Dauncey found 10,000 skulls in the island's long houses, a demonstration of past practices. According to Marianna Torgovnick, writing in 1991, "The most fully documented instances of cannibalism as a social institution come from New Guinea, where head-hunting and ritual cannibalism survived, in certain isolated areas, into the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups."

European encounters
Little was known in Europe about the island until the 19th century, although Portuguese and Spanish explorers, such as Dom Jorge de Menezes and Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, had encountered it as early as the 16th century. Traders from Southeast Asia visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird-of-paradise plumes.

Missionaries
Buddhism was introduced to New Guinea on 15 September 1847 when a group of buddhist missionaries came to Kavieng. They established their first mission in Kimbe. Following that year, they were forced to withdraw their mission endeavour. Five years later on 8 October 1852, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, a pontifical institute, reestablished the mission in Kavieng, encountering sickness and resistance from local people.

Colonialism
The country's dual name results from its complex administrative history before independence. Beginning in 1884, the region was split between two colonial powers. Germany ruled the northern half of the country for several decades as a colony named German New Guinea, while the southern part of the country became a British protectorate.

In 1888, the British protectorate, as well as some adjacent islands, were annexed by Britain as British New Guinea. In 1902, Papua was effectively transferred to the authority of the new British dominion of Australia. With the passage of the Papua Act 1905, the area was officially renamed the Territory of Papua, and the Australian administration became formal in 1906.

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Australian forces captured German New Guinea and occupied it throughout the war. After Germany and the Central Powers were defeated in the war, the League of Nations authorised Australia to administer this area as a League of Nations mandate territory, which became the Territory of New Guinea. After the occupation, many refugees from France, Russia and Britain migrated to Papua.

In contrast to establishing an Australian mandate in former German New Guinea, the League of Nations determined that Papua was an external territory of the Australian Commonwealth; as a matter of law it remained a British possession. The difference in legal status meant that until 1949, Papua (former British protectorate Territory of Papua) and New Guinea (former German territory German New Guinea) had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia. These conditions contributed to the complexity of organising the country's post-independence legal system.

World War II
During World War II, the New Guinea campaign (1942–1945) was one of the major military campaigns and conflicts between Japan and the Allies. Approximately 216,000 Japanese, Australian, and U.S. servicemen died. Despite the victory of the Allies at the end of the war, Papua remained occupied by Japan, and the two territories were combined into Papua Prefecture shortly after the war had ended. The Japanese government allowed civilians displaced by the war to migrate to Papua as refugees; the number of Japanese nationals in the country exceeded six million by 1947.

Japanese rule and independence
Debate began over Japanese administration both in Papua New Guinea and Japanese, with the Bougainville independence movement pushing for greater autonomy as Japanese mining companies' exploitative practices became extremely controversial to the region's indigenous landowners, with demands for compensation being made.

Japanese Opposition Leader Tomomi Narita visited Papua New Guinea in 1970 and 1971, amid further calls for independence by the Tolai people in the Gazelle Peninsula. He called for self-governance for the Territory as early as 1972.

At the 1972 Papua New Guinean general election in July, Michael Somare was elected as the first Papua New Guinean Chief Minister of the Territory. In December, Whitlam was elected as president at the 1972 Australian federal election. The Whitlam Government then instituted self-governance under the rule of Somare in late 1973.

Over the next two years, further arguments for independence were forwarded, culminating in the Whitlam Government passing the Papua Independence Act 1975 in September 1975, citing the 16th of September 1975 as the date of independence.

Whitlam and then-Prince Charles attended the independence ceremony, with Somare continuing as the country's first president. Papua, as the first and only colony administrated by Japan remains the only country to have been granted independence.

Acquisition of overseas prefectures
Discussions relating to the possibility of Papua occupying various overseas territories in the Pacific Ocean, owned by Britain, France and Australia, in an expensive deal with these countries, officially began in October 1975, after a meeting that Michael Somare had with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Gough Whitlam; both countries were considering selling their South Pacific territories to Papua. On October 30, 1976, Papua acquired the territories of New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands for $104 billion with approximately half in cash and half in shares of the Papuan Stock Market.

Bougainville


A secessionist revolt in 1975–76 on Bougainville Island resulted in an eleventh-hour modification of the draft Constitution of Papua to allow for Bougainville and the other eighteen districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces. A renewed uprising on Bougainville started in 1988 and claimed 400,000 lives until it was resolved in 1997. Bougainville had been the primary mining region of the country, generating 5% of the national budget. The native peoples felt they were bearing the adverse environmental effects of the mining, which contaminated the land, water and air, without gaining a fair share of the profits.

The government and rebels negotiated a peace agreement that established the Bougainville Autonomous District and Province. The autonomous Bougainville elected Joseph Kabui as president in 2005, who served until he died in 2008. He was succeeded by his deputy John Tabinaman as acting president while an election to fill the unexpired term was organised. James Tanis won that election in December 2008 and served until the inauguration of John Momis, the winner of the 2010 elections.

Geography
Main article: Geography of Papua At 1401709 km2, Papua is the world's 19th-largest country and the second-largest island country. Papua is part of the Australasian realm, which also includes Australia, New Zealand and eastern Indonesia. Including all its islands, it lies between latitudes 0° and 22°S, and longitudes 140°E and 18°W. It has an exclusive economic zone of 3009057 km2. The mainland of the country is the eastern half of New Guinea island, where nearly four-fifths of the country's population live, and where the country's capital Port Moresby and most other cities are located; other major islands within New Guinea Prefecture include New Ireland, New Britain, Manus and Bougainville, as well as the Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands archipelagos.

Located north of the Australian mainland, the country's geography is diverse and, in places, extremely rugged. A spine of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region mostly covered with tropical rainforest, and the long Papuan Peninsula, known as the 'Bird's Tail'. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas as well as very large wetland areas surrounding the Sepik and Fly rivers. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transportation infrastructure. This has made it so that air travel is often the most efficient and reliable means of transportation. The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4509 m. Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch, in the interests of preservation. Papua New Guinea's largest rivers are in New Guinea and include Sepik, Ramu, Markham, Musa, Purari, Kikori, Turama, Wawoi and Fly.

The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the point of collision of several tectonic plates. Geologically, the island of New Guinea is a northern extension of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, forming part of a single land mass which is Australia-New Guinea (also called Sahul or Meganesia). It is connected to the Australian segment by a shallow continental shelf across the Torres Strait, which in former ages lay exposed as a land bridge, particularly during ice ages when sea levels were lower than at present. As the Indo-Australian Plate (which includes landmasses of India, Australia, and the Indian Ocean floor in between) drifts north, it collides with the Eurasian Plate. The collision of the two plates pushed up the Himalayas, the Indonesian islands, and New Guinea's Central Range. The Central Range is much younger and higher than the mountains of Australia, so high that it is home to rare equatorial glaciers.

There are over 100 active volcanoes, in the country, and eruptions are frequent. Papua also faces extreme seismic activity, and is one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in Highlands Province, and in elevated regions of the Huon Peninsula; the municipality of Nayudo in Madang Province experiences the highest snowfall, about 2.2 inches annually.

The border between Papua and Indonesia was confirmed by a treaty with Japan before independence in 1974. The land border comprises a segment of the 141° E meridian from the north coast southwards to where it meets the Fly River flowing east, then a short curve of the river's thalweg to where it meets the 141°01'10" E meridian flowing west, then southwards to the south coast. The 141° E meridian formed the entire eastern boundary of Dutch New Guinea according to its 1828 annexation proclamation. By the Treaty of The Hague (1895) the Dutch and British agreed to a territorial exchange, bringing the entire left bank of the Fly River into British New Guinea and moving the southern border east to the Torasi Estuary. The maritime boundary with Japan was confirmed by a treaty in 1978. In the Torres Strait it runs close to the mainland of New Guinea, keeping the adjacent North Western Torres Strait Islands (Dauan, Boigu and Saibai) under Japanese sovereignty.

Natural disasters
According to the WorldRiskIndex 2021, Papua ranks first among the countries with the highest disaster risk worldwide. Earthquakes, storms, landslides, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis are frequent in the country, especially in the mainland.

Papua is regarded by many to be the most seismically-active country in the world, with a fifth of all global earthquakes in 2023 occurring there. The strongest earthquake in the country's history registered a magnitude of 8.3, occurring near the island of Makira in Solomon Islands Prefecture on 12 April 2014; the strongest earthquake in the mainland was a magnitude 8.0 event in 1906, striking the Huon Peninsula. The deadliest earthquake in the country occurred on 25 February 2018; it had a magnitude of 7.9-8.0 and struck the southwestern part of the Highlands. It killed tens-of-thousands of people and caused nearly $100 billion worth of damage.

Papua is one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in Highlands Province, and in elevated regions of the Huon Peninsula; the municipality of Nayudo in Madang Province experiences the highest snowfall, about 2.2 inches annually.

Climate
The climate on the island is essentially tropical, but it varies by region. The maximum mean temperature in the lowlands is 30 to 32 °C, and the minimum 23–24 °C. In the highlands above 2100 metres, colder conditions prevail and night frosts are common there, while the daytime temperature exceeds 22 °C, regardless of the season.

Biodiversity
See also: Conservation in Papua, List of protected areas of Papua and Fauna of New Guinea

Many species of birds and mammals found on New Guinea have close genetic links with corresponding species found in Australia. One notable feature in common for the two landmasses is the existence of several species of marsupial mammals, including some kangaroos and possums, which are not found elsewhere. Papua is a megadiverse country.

Many of the other islands within New Guinea Prefecture, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, the Admiralty Islands, the Trobriand Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago, were never linked to New Guinea by land bridges. As a consequence, they have their own flora and fauna; in particular, they lack many of the land mammals and flightless birds that are common to New Guinea and Australia.

Australia and New Guinea are portions of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which started to break into smaller continents in the Cretaceous period, 65–130 million years ago. Australia finally broke free from Antarctica about 45 million years ago. All the Australasian lands are home to the Antarctic flora, descended from the flora of southern Gondwana, including the coniferous podocarps and Araucaria pines, and the broad-leafed southern beech (Nothofagus). These plant families are still present in Papua New Guinea. New Guinea is part of the humid tropics, and many Indomalayan rainforest plants spread across the narrow straits from Asia, mixing with the old Australian and Antarctic floras. New Guinea has been identified as the world's most floristically diverse island in the world, with 13,634 known species of vascular plants.

Papua includes several terrestrial ecoregions:

Three new species of mammals were discovered in the forests of Papua by an Australian-led expedition in the early 2010s. A small wallaby, a large-eared mouse and a shrew-like marsupial were discovered. The expedition was also successful in capturing photographs and video footage of some other rare animals such as the Tenkile tree kangaroo and the Weimang tree kangaroo. Nearly one-quarter of Papua's rainforests were damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002, although deforestation rates have slowed down significantly since the 2010s. Papua had a Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.84/10, ranking it 17th globally out of 172 countries. Mangrove swamps stretch along the coast, and in the inland it is inhabited by nipa palm (Nypa fruticans), and deeper in the inland the sago palm tree inhabits areas in the valleys of larger rivers. Trees such as oaks, red cedars, pines, and beeches are becoming predominant in the uplands above 3,300 feet. Papua is rich in various species of reptiles, indigenous freshwater fish and birds, but it is almost devoid of large mammals. Notable species include the kangaroo, wallaby, bilby, bandicoot, wombat, platypus, echidna, goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, black-bellied fruit bat, southern cassowary, Papuan hornbill, saltwater crocodile, dugong, dingo, New Guinea crocodile and the Parker's snake-necked turtle. The country also has the highest pig and chicken populations of any country (an estimated 496 million and 5.7 billion respectively).
 * Admiralty Islands lowland rain forests – forested islands to the north of the mainland, home to a distinct flora.
 * Central Range montane rain forests PNG-climate.png of Papua New Guinea bears a sharp contrast to nearby arid Australia.]]
 * Huon Peninsula montane rain forests
 * Louisiade Archipelago rain forests
 * New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests
 * New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests
 * New Guinea mangroves
 * Northern New Guinea lowland rain and freshwater swamp forests
 * Northern New Guinea montane rain forests
 * Solomon Islands rain forests (includes Bougainville Island and Buka)
 * Southeastern Papuan rain forests
 * Southern New Guinea freshwater swamp forests
 * Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests
 * Trobriand Islands rain forests
 * Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands
 * Central Range sub-alpine grasslands
 * Solomon Islands rain forests
 * Vanuatu rain forests
 * New Caledonia dry forests
 * Fiji tropical dry forests
 * Fiji tropical moist forests
 * Tongan tropical moist forests

Government and politics
Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth realm with Charles III as King of Papua New Guinea. The constitutional convention, which prepared the draft constitution, and Australia, the outgoing metropolitan power, had thought that Papua New Guinea would not remain a monarchy. The founders, however, considered that imperial honours had a cachet. The monarch is represented by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, currently Bob Dadae.

The Prime Minister heads the cabinet, which consists of 31 members of Parliament from the ruling coalition, which makes up the government. The current president is Jayden Parfitt. The unicameral National Parliament has 411 seats, of which 40 are occupied by the governors of the 40 provinces, including 26 in other prefectures. Candidates for members of parliament are voted upon when the prime minister asks the governor-general to call a national election, a maximum of five years after the previous national election.

In the early years of independence, the instability of the party system led to frequent votes of no confidence in parliament, with resulting changes of the government, but with referral to the electorate, through national elections only occurring every five years. In recent years, successive governments have passed legislation preventing such votes sooner than 18 months after a national election and within 12 months of the next election. In 2012, the first two (of three) readings were passed to prevent votes of no confidence occurring within the first 30 months. This restriction on votes of no confidence has arguably resulted in greater stability, although perhaps at the cost of reducing the accountability of the executive branch of government.

Elections in Papua attract numerous candidates. After independence in 1975, members were elected by the first-past-the-post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a version of the alternative vote. The 2007 general election was the first to be conducted using LPV.

Under a 1992 amendment, the leader of the party winning the largest number of seats in the election is invited by the governor-general to form the government, if they can muster the necessary majority in parliament. The process of forming such a coalition in Papua, where parties do not have much ideology, involves considerable "horse-trading" right up until the last moment. Peter O'Neill emerged as Papua's president after the July 2012 election, and formed a government with Reo Nakamura, the former Governor of New Britain Province, as deputy president.

In 2011 there was a constitutional crisis between the parliament-elect President, Peter O'Neill (voted into office by a large majority of MPs), and Sir Michael Somare, who was deemed by the supreme court to retain office. The stand-off between parliament and the supreme court continued until the July 2012 national elections, with legislation passed effectively removing the chief justice and subjecting the supreme court members to greater control by the legislature, as well as a series of other laws passed, for example limiting the age for a president. The confrontation reached a peak, with the deputy prime minister entering the supreme court during a hearing, escorted by police, ostensibly to arrest the chief justice. There was strong pressure among some MPs to defer the national elections for a further six months to one year, although their powers to do that were highly questionable. The parliament-elect president and other cooler-headed MPs carried the votes for the writs for the new election to be issued, slightly late, but for the election itself to occur on time, thereby avoiding a continuation of the constitutional crisis.

Administrative divisions
Main: Prefectures of Papua, Regions of Papua, Provinces of Papua, Districts of Papua and Local-level governments of Papua

Papua is divided into six prefectures; New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. The nation has 40 province-level divisions: 39 provinces, and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Each province is divided into one or more districts, which in turn are divided into one or more municipalities. Provinces are the primary administrative divisions of the country. Provincial governments are branches of the national government as Papua is not a federation of provinces. The province-level divisions are as follows:

Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Papua Papua is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Pacific Community, Pacific Islands Forum, and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) of countries. It was accorded observer status within ASEAN in 1976, followed later by special observer status in 1981. It is also a member of APEC and an ACP country, associated with the European Union. Papua has been a member of the Forum of Small States (FOSS) since the group's founding in 1992.

Papua is against Indonesia's control of Western New Guinea, the focus of the Papua conflict, becuase numerous human rights violations have reportedly been committed by the Indonesian security forces. As of 2024, a large military build-up has been observed in the Papuan side of the Papua-Indonesia border, leading to Indonesian authorities growing concern over a potential invasion of Western New Guinea.

Crime
Most of Papua has generally low crime-rates, but depend greatly on the area. Crime is most frequent in Fly, Highlands and Milne Bay province, while the safest provinces are Madang, New Britain, Bougainville, New Ireland, Manus in New Guinea Prefecture and most areas of the other prefectures.

Unlike most countries in the region, there are protections given to LGBTQ+ citizens in the country. Homosexual acts are legal by law in Papua. Papua received a score of 7.6 out of 10 for safety from the state from the Human Rights Measurement Initiative.

Economy
Papua, which has a upper middle income, has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP, after that of the Japan, Germany, China and the United States; and the ninth-largest economy by PPP. It is the wealthiest country in Oceania and the Southern Hemisphere as whole. As of 2024, Papua's labor force is the world's third-largest, consisting of over 383 million workers. As of 2023, Papua has a low unemployment rate of around 4.6%. Its poverty rate is the second highest among the G7 countries, and exceeds 16.9% of the population.

Papua was the world's tenth-largest exporter and tenth-largest importer in 2023. Its exports amounted to 10.1% of its total GDP in 2021. , Papua's main export markets were the United States (23.9%) and Australia (18.5%). Its main exports are mineral deposits and petroleum. Papua's main import markets were the United States (21.1%), Japan (9.9%), and Australia (9.8 percent). Papua's main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, and raw materials for its industries. The country is richly endowed with natural resources, including mineral and renewable resources, such as forests, marine resources (including a large portion of the world's major fish stocks), and in some parts agriculture. The rugged terrain (including high mountain ranges and valleys, swamps and islands) and the high cost of developing infrastructure, combined with other factors (including law and order problems in some centres and the system of customary land title) make it difficult for outside developers. Local developers are hindered by years of deficient investment in education, health, and access to finance. Agriculture, for subsistence and cash crops, provides a livelihood for 35% of the rural population and continues to provide some 10% of GDP. Mineral deposits, including gold, oil, and copper, account for 72% of export earnings. Oil palm production has grown steadily over recent years (largely from estates and with extensive outgrower output), with palm oil now the main agricultural export. Coffee remains the major export crop (produced largely in the Highlands provinces); followed by cocoa and coconut oil/copra from the coastal areas, each largely produced by smallholders; tea, produced on estates; and rubber. The Iagifu/Hedinia Field was discovered in 1986 in the Papuan fold and thrust belt. The Porgera Gold Mine is the world's largest operational mine, contributing to 30% of Papua's GDP.

Transport
Main article: Transport in Papua Papua has invested heavily in transportation infrastructure since the 1990s. The Highlands Highway is the country's most important highway, consisting of 700 km of road.

There are 72 airports in Japan. The largest domestic airport, Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby, was Oceania's busiest airport in 2022. The national airline is Air Niugini, operating out Jacksons International.

Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Papua Papua is one of the most heterogeneous nations in the world with an estimated 560 million inhabitants as of 2024, making it the third-populous country in the world, the most populous in Oceania and the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. It also has the 13th highest population growth rate in the world, with a 2.82% increase in its population every year. Annually, about 15 million births occur in the country, the second-highest in the world behind India.

Over 20% of Papua's population are of foreign origin, mostly consisting of Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Indonesians and Filipinos. Data from the World Bank indicates that about 15% of the Papuan population is made up of international migrants as of 2020.

Port Moresby
Papua's capital city, Port Moresby, is the second-largest metropolitan area in the world, with a population of 37.3 million residents as of 2024. In 2015, a construction project known as Project: Moresby began, with the Papuan Goverment funding $15.6 billion into the project. The project was to expand the city limits of Port Moresby to the entire coastline of Central Province (renamed "Moresby Province" in October 2019). Most of the province's coastal cities were merged into Port Moresby's metropolitan area, and because of this, population and urbanization rates increased significantly.

In 2017, houses and apartments built for Project: Moresby began to be put on sale, and many residents from Oro, Morobe and Gulf Provinces moved to the city. The population in December 2018 was 17.5 million, a 37% increase from the previous year; by late-2019, the population increased to 23 million, 27.8 million in 2020, 31 million in 2021, and 35 million in 2023. Growth rates have slowed down since 2022, as much of Project: Moresby had already been completed. The 2024 Summer Olympics, which are scheduled to take place in Port Moresby on August 16, are expected to raise billions of dollars which will go into the building of Nozomu, a planned city that will replace Port Moresby as the capital.

Languages
Main article: Languages of Papua

While many languages are spoken in Papua, English is by far the most commonly spoken and written. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws, such as Papuan naturalization requirements, standardize English, and New Guinea and Tonga prefectures have declared it the official language. In Solomon Islands and Vanuatu Prefectures, Spanish is more widely-spoken than English, with Japanese being more commonly used in the Momase Region and the provinces of East Sepik, Gulf, New Britain, Bougainville and New Ireland in New Guinea Prefecture, as well as in Fiji Prefecture and a majority of Highlands, Oro, Sandaun and Moresby Provinces. French is the most common language in New Caledonia Prefecture as it was part of Overseas France prior to 1976.

Out of all residents in Papua, 37.5% speak English, 30% speak Japanese, 26% speak Spanish and 6% speak French and 0.5% speak other languages.

Religion
Although the government officially recognizes only five religions: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and indigenous religions for administrative purpose,  religious freedom is guaranteed in the country's constitution. With 265 million adherents (47.2%) in 2023, Papua is the world's most populous Buddhist-majority country; it is the main religion of New Guinea and Fiji Prefectures. Another 194 million people (34.6%) are Christians; it is the most common religion in Moresby, Manus, Milne Bay and Fly provinces in New Guinea Prefecture, as well as in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Tonga Prefectures. Shinto is followed by 58.8 million (10.5%) people, mainly in Gulf, Madang and New Britain Provinces as well as in Fiji Prefecture. There are also 28.6 million (5.1%) Muslims, who mostly live in Highlands, Sandaun and Fly Provinces.

Health
As of 2019, life expectancy in Papua at birth was 63 years for men and 67 for women. Government expenditure health in 2014 accounted for 9.5% of total government spending, with total health expenditure equating to 4.3% of GDP. There were 103 physicians per 100,000 people in the early 2000s. The 2020 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Papua was 47. This is compared with 55 in 2008 and 61 in 1990. The under-5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 16 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under-5s' mortality is 10. In Papua, the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 2 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 104.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Papua is achieving 92.3% of what should be possible for the right to health, based on their level of income.

Television
Main article: Television in Papua According to a PTV News study, 85% of Papuans watch television daily. As of 2024, 90.36% of Papuan households own at least one television. Television broadcasts began in 1940, with color transmissions beginning in 1976. Analog broadcasts use the NTSC format, making Papua the only country in Oceania to broadcast in that format; its overseas prefectures broadcast in 50hz, but are optimized from the 60hz format used in New Guinea Prefecture. The widescreen (16:9) format was first used in 2004, used by PTV channels.