| Location | Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia |
| Geographic coordinates | 6 00 S, 147 00 E |
| Map references | Oceania |
| Area | total: 462,840 sq km land: 452,860 sq km water: 9,980 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than California |
| Land boundaries | total: 824 km border countries (1): Indonesia 824 km |
| Coastline | 5,152 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm measured from claimed archipelagic baselines |
| Climate | tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation |
| Terrain | mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 667 m |
| Natural resources | gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries |
| Land use | agricultural land: 2.6% (2018 est.) arable land: 0.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 1.5% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 0.4% (2018 est.) forest: 63.1% (2018 est.) other: 34.3% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 0 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 801 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | active volcanism; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis volcanism: severe volcanic activity; Ulawun (2,334 m), one of Papua New Guinea's potentially most dangerous volcanoes, has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Rabaul (688 m) destroyed the city of Rabaul in 1937 and 1994; Lamington erupted in 1951 killing 3,000 people; Manam's 2004 eruption forced the island's abandonment; other historically active volcanoes include Bam, Bagana, Garbuna, Karkar, Langila, Lolobau, Long Island, Pago, St. Andrew Strait, Victory, and Waiowa; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
| Geography - note | note 1: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; generally east-west trending highlands break up New Guinea into diverse ecoregions; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast note 3: Papua New Guinea is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
