Papua New Guinea

Only about 15% of PNG's population lives in urban areas, suggesting that the vast majority of the population relies on subsistence agriculture or resource-based livelihoods in rural and often remote settings. This low urbanization complicates the delivery of centralized government services and infrastructure.

PNG registered a moderate GDP growth rate of 3.811% coupled with a very low official unemployment rate of 2.661%. This low unemployment likely masks significant underemployment and informal sector activity, which is common in economies with large subsistence sectors and high rural populations.

PNG exhibits a high fertility rate (3.10 births per woman), which is characteristic of developing nations and significantly higher than the global average (approx. 2.3). This high rate drives rapid population growth and places immense pressure on future infrastructure, education, and employment resources.

Access to electricity is extremely limited, reaching only about 20.5% of the population. This massive infrastructure gap is a major constraint on economic modernization, industrial development, and quality of life, especially given the country's large, dispersed rural population.