Environment:
current issues: rain forest subject to deforestation as a result of
growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution from mining
projects
natural hazards: active volcanism; situated along the Pacific "Rim of
Fire"; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe
earthquakes; mudslides
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified -
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea
Note: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world's
largest swamps along southwest coast
@Papua New Guinea:People
Population: 4,294,750 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 41% (female 847,208; male 892,718)
15-64 years: 57% (female 1,161,961; male 1,268,266)
65 years and over: 2% (female 66,759; male 57,838) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.3% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 33.2 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 10.18 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 61.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)