Country economic review : Papua New Guinea

Some economic and social progress has been made since Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975, but the people remain poor by regional and international standards. Thirty one percent of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1 per capita per day. Most of the poor are in rural areas, especially the north coast and highlands provinces. Women are worse off than men, even having a lower life expectancy. The fundamental development challenge is still to translate natural resource richness into broad-based, sustainable economic growth and social development.