.COM.PG Domain Name - New Guinea Domain Name .COM.PG

Papua New Guinea Location:
Physical. Papua New Guinea is located in Southeastern Asia. It is a group of islands, including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, between the South Pacific Ocean and the Coral Sea. Altogether, the country covers an area just slightly larger than California. The climate is tropical with a monsoon season in the northwest from December to March and one in the southeast from May to October. Mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling hills cover the majority of terrain. Some of the country's most valued natural resources are gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil and fisheries. Deforestation, pollution from mining and severe drought are the nation's primary environmental concerns.

Papua New Guinea Geography:
Geography
Area: 178,612
Capital: Port Moresby (pop 259,000)
Environmental concerns: deforestation; drought; mining pollution
Geographical features: mostly mountains; coastal lowlands and rolling hills
Climate: tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March); southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation

Papua New Guinea People:
People. Over 5.4 million people inhabit Papua New Guinea. Pidgin is the official language while more than 700 indigenous languages are spoken, including Motu, and 1-2% of the population speaks English. Ethnically the country is comprised of Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, and Polynesian peoples. Indigenous beliefs (34%) represent the largest spiritual group in Papua New Guinea with large populations of Roman Catholics (22%) Lutherans (16%) and other Protestants (28%) as well.
5,420,280 people; Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian
Annual growth rate: 2.3%
Major languages: Melanesian Pidgin; English spoken by 1%-2%; 715 indigenous languages
Religions: Roman Catholic (22%); Lutheran (16%); other Protestant (28%); indigenous beliefs (34%)

Papua New Guinea Government:
Government. Papua New Guinea is a member of the British Commonwealth. The current Prime Minister, Michael Somare, is known as the nation’s founding father for his role in promoting independence from Australia. He has served as prime minister three times since independence. The most recent election that brought him back to office was chaotic with 43 political parties running 3,000 candidates. During the campaign some 30 people were killed, ballot boxes were stolen and gangs intimidated voters in outlaying villages. The results were delayed for weeks and several regions had to redo their elections. In the end, Somare’s National Alliance in coalition with five other parties gained the majority and currently make up the government.
Papua New Guinea is a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy that gained its independence from an Australian-administered UN trusteeship September 16, 1975.
Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state and Sir Michael Somare is the head of government
8 major political parties
Suffrage: universal at 18

Papua New Guinea Communication:
Communication and transportation
62,000 main telephone lines (2002)
75,000 Internet users (2002)
11,904 miles of highway
no railroads
559 airfields (2003)

Papua New Guinea Economy:
Economy. The economy is largely agricultural (especially coffee and copra crops). More than five million Papuans live by subsistence farming but farming for commercial trade is limited by the absence of a good transportation network. Copper, gold and silver mining are important, but are dwarfed by the potential of large, untapped oil reserves. The development of large-scale industry is hampered by the rough terrain, illiteracy and the number (more than 700) of languages spoken. Papua New Guinea is a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group.
Currency: kina
Per capita GDP: $2,200
GDP: $11.48 billion
GDP growth rate: 1.4%
Inflation rate: 14.7%
Labor force: agriculture (85%); industry (NA); services (NA)

Papua New Guinea More Information:
http://www.niugini.com/
www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook