Yearbook 2005
Papua New Guinea. According to countryaah, Port Moresby is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Papua New Guinea. The Australian police force that had arrived in Papua New Guinea before New Year was questioned at the beginning of the year. Several hundred Papuan police protested the presence of Australian counterparts, claiming that it did not reduce the serious crime. In addition, legal objections were raised that the members of the visiting police force had, at the request of the Australian Government, been granted criminal immunity. In May, Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruled that immunity violated the Papuan Constitution. As a result, Australia was forced to take home its police force. It was a tough blow to Australian efforts to counter terrorism and organized crime in the region through military and police efforts in unstable neighboring states.
By the New Year, the province of Bougainville’s new constitution came into force, and the island gained considerable self-government. It was a result of the peace agreement signed in 2001 between the Papua New Guinea government and the Bougainville rebels following a protracted and bloody civil war. In May and June elections were held for the new self-government at Bougainville, partly a parliamentary assembly and partly a president. Former rebel leader Joseph Kabui won the presidential election. According to the constitution, a referendum on full independence must be held no earlier than 2014.
In a report in August, Human Rights Watch accused the Papuan police of torture, child abuse and sexual abuse, including group rape against girls and boys. In November, at least two schoolchildren were killed and 35 injured when police opened fire on stone-throwing children trying to prevent the headmaster at their school in the Highlands from being arrested.
Country data
Area: 462,840 km2 (world rank: 54)
Population: 8,251,000
Population density: 18 per km2 (as of 2017, world rank: 100)
Capital: Port Moresby
Official languages: English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu
Gross domestic product: US $ 21.1 billion; Real growth: 2.2%
Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): 2410 US$
Currency: 1 Kina (K) = 100 Toea
Embassy
Avenue de Tervuren 430, B-1150 Brussels
T +32 2 7790609,
Fax +32 2 7727088
Government
Head of State: Elizabeth II, Head of Government: Peter O’Neill, Exterior: Rimwahlbink Pato
National Day: 16.9.
Administrative division
20 provinces, 1 autonomous region and capital district
State and form of government
Constitution of 1975
Parliamentary monarchy (in the Commonwealth)
Parliament (National Parliament) with 111 members, election every 5 years,
right to vote from 18 years of age
Population of: Papua New
Guineans, last census 2011: 7,275.324 population
approx. 750 ethnic groups: mainly Papua; Malays, Melanesians, Micronesians; Chinese minority
Cities (with population): Buka as of 2011: 5416 residents.
Religions: 96% Christians; indigenous and syncretistic religions (status: 2006)
Languages: English, Tok Pisin (Pidgin-English), Hiri Motu; approx. 742 Papuan languages
Employed persons by economic sector
no information
Unemployment (in% of the labor force)
no information
Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 5.2%
Foreign trade: Import: 3.0 billion US $ (2017); Export: 10.1 billion US $ (2017)
