Papua New Guinea

Millennium Development Goals in Papua New Guinea

With a landmass of approximately 463,000 sq. km. and a population of about 6.5 million, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the largest and most populated developing island country in the South Pacific region. Over two-thirds of population of the South Pacific region is concentrated in PNG.

In 2008, the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was PGK 3,500 (i.e., USD 1,300) per person, while the Human Development Index was 0.431 in 2010. This places PNG among the group of low income and low human development countries of the world. Data on poverty in PNG are currently being analyzed. The second MDG progress summary report 2009 shows that under-5 mortality rate declined from 80 per thousand live births in 2000 to 75 in 2006 and infant mortality rate declined from 64 per 1000 live births to 57 in the same period.

However, the latest available data show that maternal mortality in the country is one of the highest in the world. It was 733 per 100,000 live births in 1994. Although gender parity ratio of students in primary education was 90 percent in 2007, the youth and adult literacy rates were only 61.7 percent and 49.2 percent respectively in 2000. The country faces daunting challenges from spread of HIV/AIDS.The national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate was 0.95 in 2008. PNG also faces challenges in implementing and monitoring programmes on environmental sustainability and expanding telecommunication and internet services in the country.

In order to address these challenges, the Government came up with the long term vision of PNG, Vision 2050 in 2009 and PNG Development Strategic Plan (DSP) 2010-2030 and Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2011-2015 in 2010. The country tailored MDGs have been integrated in the MTDP.

In this context, the MDG Coordination and Implementation Programme in PNG supports the government and civil society organizations in achieving the targets on the following eight MDGs at the national and sub-national level as well as monitoring them. Find the progress made by PNG on each of the MDGs below:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empowerment of women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Follow this link for more information about the MDG Coordination and Implementation Programme.