The total population of Papua New Guinea was estimated at about 12.54 million people in 2024. Between 1980 and 2024, the total population rose by approximately 9.58 million people, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The total population will steadily rise by around 1.67 million people over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.This indicator describes the total population in the country at hand. This total population of the country consists of all persons falling within the scope of the census.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for Papua New Guinea (POPTOTPGA647NWDB) from 1960 to 2024 about Papua New Guinea and population.

The total population in Papua New Guinea was estimated at 10.6 million people in 2024, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides - Papua New Guinea Population - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The annual population growth in Papua New Guinea decreased to 1.81 percent compared to the previous year. As a result, the population growth in Papua New Guinea saw its lowest number in 2023 with 1.81 percent. Population growth deals with the annual change in total population, and is affected by factors such as fertility, mortality, and migration.Find more key insights for the annual population growth in countries like New Zealand and Solomon Islands.

Rural population (% of total population) in Papua New Guinea was reported at 86.12 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Papua New Guinea - Rural population - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Population Growth for Papua New Guinea (SPPOPGROWPNG) from 1961 to 2024 about Papua New Guinea, population, and rate.

In 2022, the population density in Papua New Guinea increased by *** inhabitants per square kilometer (+**** percent) compared to 2021. While the growth is slowing down, with ***** inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density is at its peak in the observed period. Notably, the population density continuously increased over the last years.Population density is calculated by dividing the total population by the total land area, to show the average number of people living there per square kilometer of land.

This is a subset of Population projections

Population projections for Pacific Island Countries and territories from 1950 to 2050, by sex and by 5-years age groups.

Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Growth data was reported at 2.034 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.064 % for 2016. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 2.523 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.807 % in 1982 and a record low of 2.009 % in 1960. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Growth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Total data was reported at 8,251,162.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8,084,991.000 Person for 2016. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Total data is updated yearly, averaging 4,153,191.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,251,162.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 2,010,677.000 Person in 1960. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Sum; Relevance to gender indicator: disaggregating the population composition by gender will help a country in projecting its demand for social services on a gender basis.

Population ages 65 and above, male (% of male population) in Papua New Guinea was reported at 3.3591 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Papua New Guinea - Population ages 65 and above, male (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

Papua New Guinea PG: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data was reported at 0.338 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.371 % for 2010. Papua New Guinea PG: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 0.480 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.787 % in 1990 and a record low of 0.338 % in 2015. Papua New Guinea PG: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. International migrant stock is the number of people born in a country other than that in which they live. It also includes refugees. The data used to estimate the international migrant stock at a particular time are obtained mainly from population censuses. The estimates are derived from the data on foreign-born population--people who have residence in one country but were born in another country. When data on the foreign-born population are not available, data on foreign population--that is, people who are citizens of a country other than the country in which they reside--are used as estimates. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 people living in one of the newly independent countries who were born in another were classified as international migrants. Estimates of migrant stock in the newly independent states from 1990 on are based on the 1989 census of the Soviet Union. For countries with information on the international migrant stock for at least two points in time, interpolation or extrapolation was used to estimate the international migrant stock on July 1 of the reference years. For countries with only one observation, estimates for the reference years were derived using rates of change in the migrant stock in the years preceding or following the single observation available. A model was used to estimate migrants for countries that had no data.; ; United Nations Population Division, Trends in Total Migrant Stock: 2008 Revision.; Weighted average;

Papua New Guinea PG: Rural Population: % of Total Population data was reported at 86.898 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 86.950 % for 2016. Papua New Guinea PG: Rural Population: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 86.947 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 96.275 % in 1960 and a record low of 85.006 % in 1990. Papua New Guinea PG: Rural Population: % of Total Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on the United Nations Population Division's World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Weighted average;

Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Female: Aged 0-14 data was reported at 1,433,805.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,418,208.000 Person for 2016. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Female: Aged 0-14 data is updated yearly, averaging 855,959.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,433,805.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 415,647.000 Person in 1960. Papua New Guinea PG: Population: Female: Aged 0-14 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 0 to 14. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; World Bank staff estimates using the World Bank's total population and age/sex distributions of the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Sum; Relevance to gender indicator: Knowing how many girls, adolescents and women there are in a population helps a country in determining its provision of services.

This statistic shows the median age of the population in Papua New Guinea from 1950 to 2100*.The median age is the age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older. It is a single index that summarizes the age distribution of a population. In 2020, the median age of the Papua New Guinean population was 21.7 years.

This statistic shows the age structure in Papua New Guinea from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, about 33.8 percent of Papua New Guinea's total population were aged 0 to 14 years.

Papua New Guinea population density for 2022 was 22.53, a 1.9% increase from 2021.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Papua New Guinea population density for 2021 was <strong>22.11</strong>, a <strong>2.01% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Papua New Guinea population density for 2020 was <strong>21.68</strong>, a <strong>2.15% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
<li>Papua New Guinea population density for 2019 was <strong>21.22</strong>, a <strong>2.28% increase</strong> from 2018.</li>
</ul>Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.

This project was initiated in 2021 to generate modelled population estimates for Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support their census preparations. It was powered by the Australian Government through the PNGAus partnership, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)and the PNG National Statistical Office. The project team combined recent 2019-2021 malaria bednet campaign data, urban structural listing 2021 data, and geospatial covariates to model and estimate population numbers at census unit level, and aggregate at other relevant administrative units (e.g., national, province, and districts) using a Bayesian statistical hierarchical modelling framework. The approach facilitated simultaneous accounting for the multiple levels of variability within the data hierarchy. It also allowed the quantification of uncertainties in parameter estimates. These model-based population estimates can be considered as most accurately representing the years 2020-21. This time period corresponds to the malaria survey and urban structural listing survey observations (2019-2021; median year: 2020) and the period of the satellite imagery used to generate settlement footprints (2021). Although the methods were robust enough to explicitly account for key random biases within the datasets, it is noted that systematic biases, which may arise from sources other than random errors within the observed data collection process, are most likely to remain. These data were produced by the WorldPop Research Group at the University of Southampton in collaboration with the National Statistical Office of PNG and UNFPA under the project called “Population-modelled estimation for Papua New Guinea in collaboration with the National Statistical Office, 2021-22” (PNG40-0000004504). The final statistical modelling was designed, developed, and implemented by Chris Nnanatu. Data processing was done by Amy Bonnie with additional support from Tom Abbott, Tom McKeen, Heather Chamberlain, Ortis Yankey, Duygu Cihan and Assane Gadiaga. Project oversight was done by Attila Lazar and Andy Tatem. Household survey listing data were provided by the National Statistical Office, and the settlement footprint was generated by Planet.

1) At administrative level 1 these tables do not refer to the National Capital District or to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. The National Capital District is combined with the Central Province and Bougainville is combined with the North Solomons province.

2) The administrative unit P-codes found in these tables do not completely correspond with the P-codes found in the shapefiles available on HDX (here)[https://data.humdata.org/dataset/papua-new-guinea-admin-level-0-international-boundaries].

Papua New Guinea PG: Urban Population: % of Total Population data was reported at 13.102 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 13.050 % for 2016. Papua New Guinea PG: Urban Population: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 13.053 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.994 % in 1990 and a record low of 3.725 % in 1960. Papua New Guinea PG: Urban Population: % of Total Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Papua New Guinea – Table PG.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices. The data are collected and smoothed by United Nations Population Division.; ; United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Weighted average;