Officially Independent State Of Papua New Guinea,island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean, encompassing the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and a chain of tropical islands (including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville). The capital is Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea is bounded on the west by Indonesia's half of the island (Irian Jaya) and on the north by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Pacific and the Solomon Sea, and on the south by the Coral Sea and Torres Strait, which separates the island from Australia. Area 178,704 square miles (462,840 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 3,752,000.

COUNTRY : Papua New Guinea

GOVERNMENT : Westminster Parliament System

LOCATION : 14 degrees east and 0-12 degrees south of the equator

LAND AREA : 461,700 square kilometers

CLIMATE : Topical and Monsoonal with averag rainfall of 2,000 mm per year

POPULATION : 3.9 million

LANGUAGE : Three (3) major languages - English, Tok Pisin and Motu. There are also over 700 vernacular languages.

MAJOR CITIES : - Port Moresby (capital) - Population - 200,000+
- Lae - 89,000+
- Rabaul
- Mt Hagen
- Goroka

UNIT OF CURRENCY : Kina (almost on par with the United States Dollar). Units of Toea equals One Kina.