_#_Terrain: mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills
_#_Natural resources: gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil potential
_#_Land use: arable land NEGL%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures NEGL%; forest and woodland 71%; other 28%
_#_Environment: one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast; some active volcanos; frequent earthquakes
_#_Note: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia
_*People #_Population: 3,913,186 (July 1991), growth rate 2.3% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 34 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 66 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)