POPULATION 5,172,033
ROMAN CATHOLIC 27.1 percent
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN 19.5 percent
UNITED CHURCH 11.5 percent
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 10.1 percent
PENTECOSTAL 8.6 percent
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE 5.2 percent
ANGLICAN 3.2 percent
BAPTIST 2.5 percent
OTHER CHRISTIAN 8.1 percent
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS 0.4 percent
MORMON 0.4 percent
OTHER RELIGION (BUDDHIST, MUSLIM, ETC.) 0.3 percent
BAHAI 0.3 percent
NOT STATED 2.0 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea, comprising the eastern half of New Guinea and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, lies east of Indonesia and north of Australia. According to archaeological sources the region that is now Papua New Guinea has been inhabited for more than 40,000 years. There have been various migrations to the area from Southeast Asia, resulting in a cultural complexity that is evidenced by the more than 800 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.

Although Europeans made a brief landing on New Guinea in the 1520s, and the British first attempted to start...