Translated's Research Center

Papua New Guinea

Oceania

To which language should you translate to localize in Papua New Guinea?

What the 150 top websites do

Of the top 150 website (Global by design ranking):

  • 41/150 translate into English.
  • 2/150 translate into Pidgin.
  • 1/150 translate into Malay.

If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data

Overview


Language

Official language
Tok Pisin (68.4%), English (39.9%), Hiri Motu, Papua New Guinean Sign Language

Indigenous
Papuan languages

T-index
0.012%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Foreign languages
German, Indonesian, Japanese, Russian.

Demography

Capital: Port Moresby 
Currency: Papua New Guinean kina
Population: 10.42 m
Population density: 23/km2

Economy

GDP: 31.6 billion USD (2022)
GDP per capita: 3,115.9USD ‎(2022)
Exports: $15.4 billion (2022)

Statistics

Internet users: 27% penetration, 2.81 million
Unemployment rate: 2.7% (2023)
Urbanisation: 13.8% (2024)
Literacy: 61.6% (2024)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals with dot as decimal separator.

Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00675

Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal

Facts and data


Economy

Imports
$5.48 billion (2022).  Refined Petroleum ($858M), Rice ($160M), Excavation Machinery ($123M), Delivery Trucks ($114M), and Broadcasting Equipment ($104M), importing mostly from China ($1.43B), Australia ($1.27B), Singapore ($857M), Malaysia ($508M), and Indonesia ($245M).

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is low (rated 59.8 out of 100). Ranked 16th out of 25 East Asia & Pacific countries. Ranked 120th out of 190 countries worldwide (2020, World Bank).

Exports
$15.4 billion (2022). Petroleum Gas ($7.71B), Gold ($1.74B), Palm Oil ($1.03B), Crude Petroleum ($934M), and Copper Ore ($826M), exporting mostly to Japan ($4.03B), China ($3.44B), Australia ($1.74B), South Korea ($1.48B), and Chinese Taipei ($1.46B).

Economic freedom
‘Mostly not free’ (rated 49.4 out of 100). Ranked 33rd out of 39 Asia-Pacific region. Ranked 148th out of 186 countries worldwide (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Main local online stores
Amazon.com, Ebay.com.au and Aliexpress.com

Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal


Service Imports
Service Exports

Source: OEC

Trade balance of goods from 2012 to 2022

Source: Statista

Historical Data Trade Imports

The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Papua New Guinea.

Historical Data Trade Exports

The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Papua New Guinea.

Source: OEC

The Top Export Opportunities for Papua New Guinea by Relatedness

Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Papua New Guinea is not specialized in.

Papua New Guinea's Most Complex Exports

The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.

Source: OEC

Papua New Guinea's Most Specialized Products

Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Papua New Guinea observed and expected exports in each product.

Source: OEC

Market Growth Imports

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Market Growth Exports

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Source: OEC

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)

Source: WorldBank


T-index

T-index

Reach most of the online purchasing power

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.

Try it now

Media

Media language
English

Information channels
Radio is important in Papua New Guinea, which has scattered, isolated settlements and low levels of literacy. The government operates a national network and provincial stations. “The media sector is relatively underdeveloped and struggles to inform the country’s inhabitants, who speak at least 80 different languages,” says Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Journalists can face intimidation, direct threats, censorship, lawsuits and bribery attempts as well as direct interference. In 2022, the entire EMTV newsroom was fired after walking out in response to a decision to suspend its head of news and current affairs, “for ‘insubordination’ – running stories that annoyed a government minister,” says RSF. Television coverage is limited mainly to Port Moresby and the provincial capitals. 
The country’s two daily newspapers are foreign-owned. The private press, including weeklies and monthlies, reports on corruption and other sensitive matters. The Australian Broadcasting Cooperation (ABC) is the only foreign news organisation to have a permanent base in the capital, Port Moresby.

The press

The National 
The Post-Courier

Television

EMTV – commercial

Radio

National Broadcasting Corporation – state-run
FM100 – private, commercial 
Nau FM – private, commercial

Media data source: BBC


Internet Data

Internet users
27% penetration, 2.81 million.

Share of web traffic by device
68.91% mobile phones, 29.53% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.56% tablet devices.

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
19.95 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
13.35 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 36.9%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 77.6%

Most popular web search engines
Google (89.55%), Bing (9.13%), Yahoo! (0.46%), DuckduckGo (0.23%), Baidu (0.23%), YANDEX (0.11%).

Most used social media
Facebook (90.96%), Pinterest (3.27%), YouTube (3.12%), Twitter (1.01%), Instagram (1%), LinkedIN (0.37%).

Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter


Social statistics

Life expectancy
66 yrs (2022)

Corruption perceptions Index
Papua New Guinea scored 29 out of 100, ranked 133 out of 180 countries worldwide (2023).

Current health expenditure
2.32% of GDP (2021).

CO2 emissions
0.6 metric tons per capita (2020).

Corruption perceptions Index
Papua New Guinea scored 17 out of 100, ranked 171 out 180 countries worldwide.

Current health expenditure
3.22% of GDP

CO2 emissions
0.3 metric tons per capita





Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF


The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com


Country Curiosities


Papua New Guinea is renowned for its remarkable linguistic and cultural diversity, with an estimated 850 languages spoken among its various ethnic groups. This diversity reflects the rich tapestry of the country’s Indigenous populations, each with unique traditions, customs, and languages. Despite its relatively small population, Papua New Guinea boasts one of the highest linguistic densities in the world, showcasing the vast array of cultures and identities within its borders.

Additionally…

  • Papua New Guinea comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and approximately 600 smaller islands, including New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville.
  • Although Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975, it retained the British monarch as head of state through a constitutional monarchy system.
  • The Korowai tribe, living in the western rainforests, was unaware of the existence of any other peoples until 1974, when they encountered a group of scientists.
  • The name Papua comes from the Malay language, meaning frizzy, referring to the hair of the Indigenous people.
  • There are 18 active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea, which frequently cause strong earthquakes.
  • Papua New Guinea ranks 11th in the world for gold production, with total reserves estimated at 2,300 tons.
  • The civil war for Bougainville’s independence lasted over 10 years, involving 2,000 military personnel, mercenaries, and Australian military assistance. It resulted in about 20,000 deaths.

Languages research


Languages spoken in Papua New Guinea

Language Families spoken in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

Legend

  • 1-Nord New Guinea

  • 2-Sepik River

  • 3-Enga Southerm Highlands

  • 4-Middle Yuat River

  • 5-Upper Yuat River

  • 6-Lower Sepik River

  • 7-Ramu and Keram Rivers

  • 8-Madang

  • 9-West New Britain

  • 10-Linguage Isolates

  • 11-North Bougairwille

  • 12-South Bougairwille

  • 13-Beining

  • 14-Austronesian

  • 15-Kaki Aer-Kerema Bay

  • 16-Oro-Wharton Range

  • 17-Potential Trans New Guinea

  • 18-Est Trans-Fly

  • 19-Morehead & Upper Maro

  • 20-Papuan Gulf

  • 21-Simbu-Western Highland

  • 22-Trans-New Guinea

  • 23-Arai-Samaia River

  • 24-Senagi

  • 25-Senu River

  • 26-Torricelli Sepik Coast

  • 27-Uninhabited


Photo credit: Adli Wahid, Unsplash