Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor-General. Prime minister : Peter O'Neill
Population
45,239,079
6,310,129
Life Expectancy
74.790 years
66.460 years
Capital City
Bogota
Port Moresby
Largest city
Bogota (population: 7,102,600)
Port Moresby (population: 283,733)
Human Development Index
0.787
0.516
GDP per capita
$10,400 US
$2,600 US
Literacy Rate
92.8%
57.3%
Corruption Perception Index
3.8
2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.7%
0.9%
Wealthiest Citizens
Julio Mario Santo Domingo ($4.0bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
10.800%
1.900%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished in practice
Political System
republic; executive branch dominates government structure
constitutional parliamentary democracy
Independence date
20 July 1810 (from Spain)
16 September 1975 (from the Australian-administered UN trusteeship)
Religions
Roman Catholic 90%, other 10%
Roman Catholic 27%, Evangelical Lutheran 19.5%, United Church 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10%, Pentecostal 8.6%, Evangelical Alliance 5.2%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.5%, other Protestant 8.9%, Bahai 0.3%, indigenous beliefs and other 3.3% (2000 census)
Languages
Spanish
Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region note: 820 indigenous languages spoken (over one-tenth of the world's total)
