Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor-General. Prime minister : Peter O'Neill
President: Donald Ramotar
Population
6,310,129
741,908
Life Expectancy
66.460 years
67.390 years
Capital City
Port Moresby
Georgetown
Largest city
Port Moresby (population: 283,733)
Georgetown (population: 235,017)
Human Development Index
0.516
0.725
GDP per capita
$2,600 US
$7,600 US
Literacy Rate
57.3%
98.8%
Corruption Perception Index
2
2.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0.9%
29%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
1.900%
11.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Legal
Political System
constitutional parliamentary democracy
republic
Independence date
16 September 1975 (from the Australian-administered UN trusteeship)
26 May 1966 (from UK)
Religions
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)
Hindu 28.4%, Pentecostal 16.9%, Roman Catholic 8.1%, Anglican 6.9%, Seventh Day Adventist 5%, Methodist 1.7%, Jehovah Witness 1.1%, other Christian 17.7%, Muslim 7.2%, other 4.3%, none 4.3% (2002 census)
Languages
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)
English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Urdu
