Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea has the biggest land mass of all the island nations of the region, covering 465,000 km2 and includes some 600 islands, atolls and coral reefs that guard the nations coastline and unites 200 different and distinct cultures and over 800 different languages.
AREA: Total: 462,840 sq km
POPULATION: 5,420,280 (July 2004 est.)
LANGUAGES: Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region
Note: There are 715 indigenous languages, many of which are unrelated
ETHNIC GROUPS: Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian
LITERACY LEVELS: Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- Total population: 64.6%
- Male: 71.1%
- Female: 57.7% (2002)
Read the country report for Papua New Guinea (December 2006)