Overview of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea has abundant natural resources including gold, oil, copper, natural gas, timber and fisheries. Despite this 40% of the population survives on less than one dollar a day, more than 40% of the adult population is illiterate and only one in two primary school aged children attends school.

More than 85% of the population depend on the agricultural sector to survive, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and are vulnerable to damage from natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and mud slides. With an infant mortality rate of 54 per 1,000 births, an illiteracy rate of 42 percent, and the highest infection rate of HIV/AIDS in all of East Asia and the Pacific , PNG ranks 148th of 182 countries worldwide in the United Nations 2007 Human Development Index.

Socio-cultural challenges include the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the chronic law and order and land tenure issues and the high level of gender based violence in PNG with an estimated two out of three women being abused by males. Other social issues are the dysfunctional system of the government’s service delivery. The Government has therefore, under its Medium Term Development Strategies (MTDS) renewed it’s emphasis on the need to identify practical solutions to address the current constraints to service delivery. The MTDS is giving education and literacy a high priority as leverage for eradicating poverty, improving literacy rate and increasing the human resource in the country. 

Facts and Figures

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, but exploitation has been hampered by rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure. Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population. Mineral deposits, including copper, gold, and oil, account for nearly two-thirds of export earnings.

A consortium led by a major American oil company plans to begin the commercialization of the country's estimated 227 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves through the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility that could begin exporting in 2013 or 2014; the largest investment project in the country's history, it received a green light in December 2009 and has the potential to double GDP in the near-term and triple Papua New Guinea's export revenue. The government faces the challenge of ensuring transparency and accountability for revenues flowing from this and other large LNG projects. The government of Prime Minister Somare has expended much of its energy remaining in power. He was the first prime minister ever to serve a full five-year term. The government has brought stability to the national budget, largely through expenditure control; however, it relaxed spending constraints in 2006 and 2007 as elections approached. Numerous challenges still face the government, including providing physical security for foreign investors, regaining investor confidence, restoring integrity to state institutions, promoting economic efficiency by privatizing moribund state institutions, and balancing relations with Australia, its former colonial ruler.

Culture - Language, Art and Music

Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least as many traditional societies. The official language is English although many people use tok pisin as a lingua franca. Papua New Guinea’s arts are regarded as the most striking and varied in the Pacific. In traditional societies, dance, song, music, sculpture and body adornment were related to ceremonies. Art was either utilitarian (such as bowls or canoes) or spiritual (such as carved masks). Since European contact in the 20th century art has become objectified with contemporary art being vividly expressed through paintings, carvings and pottery. Melanesians are incredibly musical people. The traditional PNG musical instruments includes the kundu drum, hollowed-out logs used as drums, shells and bamboo panpipes used as blow instruments and rattles made from seeds and leaves. Local radio is very supportive of local music which is both traditional as well as contemporary. String band music played by four or five guitarists and a ukulele player are popular. Virtually every village has its own string band and most PNG pop music comes out of this tradition. Reggae and rap is also a strong influence in modern pop music.

Cultural and Social Challenges Facing PNG
Government services generally in PNG are in a state of neglect, particularly in the rural areas and in the areas of education and health. It is estimated that less than 50% of primary school aged children go to school. PNG has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the Asia and Pacific region. Women have lower life expectancies, educational achievements and incomes, and their rates of literacy are poorer than that of men. Domestic violence is also a major issue in PNG. There is no law in PNG that addresses all aspects of gender based violence and domestic violence in particular. Gender inequality and discrimination is currently supported by customs such as polygamy and bride price which strengthen men’s belief that they “own” their wives and therefore have the right to beat them. The right to remedy for victims of violence against women includes the right to access services to assist in the recovery and rehabilitation. In PNG , however, survivors of gender-based violence are unlikely to receive either adequate medical, counseling or legal support, or to have access to emergency accommodation as these services are not provided effectively by Government especially not in the rural areas where most of the population live. In 2006 UNICEF estimated that around one million children in PNG live with violence either at home or in their community. Violence against women is also further fueling the already high infection rate of HIV AIDS.