Provinces of Papua New Guinea

Province-level divisions of Papua New Guinea
Category	Unitary state
Location	Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Number	22 Province-Level Divisions: 20 Provinces 1 Autonomous Region 1 National Capital District
Populations	(Provinces only): smallest: 50,231 (Manus) largest: 674,810 (Morobe)
Areas	(Provinces only): smallest: 2,100 km2 (800 sq mi) (Manus) largest: 98,190 km2 (37,911 sq mi) (Fly River)
Subdivisions	Districts Local-level government areas (LLG) Wards Census units (or villages)

Politics of Papua New Guinea
show The Crown Monarch Elizabeth II Governor-General Bob Dadae
show Executive Cabinet Prime Minister James Marape
show Legislature National Parliament Speaker: Political parties
show Elections Recent elections General: 2007 2012 2017
show Judiciary Supreme Court
show Administrative divisions Administrative divisions Regions Provinces Districts Local-level governments
show Foreign relations Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister: Soroi Eoe Diplomatic missions of / in Papua New Guinea Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
show Related topics 2011–12 constitutional crisis Corruption
Other countries
v t

For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea is divided into administrative divisions called provinces. There are 22 province-level divisions, which include 20 provinces, the autonomous region of Bougainville and the National Capital District of Port Moresby.

In 2009, the PNG parliament created two additional provinces, that officially came into being on 17 May 2012.^[1] They were Hela Province, which was split from Southern Highlands Province, and Jiwaka Province, which was split from Western Highlands Province.^[2]

Each province forms a provincial electorate, called a constituency, for the PNG national parliament. The 22 provincial members are chosen from single-member electorates. Each provincial member becomes governor of their province unless they take a ministerial position, in which case the governorship passes to an open member of the province.^[3]

History[]

Immediately before independence on 16 September 1975, Papua New Guinea was divided into nineteen provinces and the National Capital District. These provinces corresponded to the "Districts" of the pre-Independence administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

The Bougainville issue[]

It had been considered that an independent state with limited resources could ill afford the infrastructure of a two-level quasi-federal governmental structure. However, a secessionist movement in Bougainville, whose copper mine provided the largest single source of foreign exchange and whose contribution to the general revenue was crucial to the independent state's economic viability, forced the issue. The Bougainville secession movement declared the Republic of the North Solomons on 1 September 1975 and the central government very quickly responded by offering provincial status to Bougainville. For the sake of consistency, as there were or had been regional separatist movements in Papua and East New Britain, provincial status was offered to the other 18 Districts as well.

Bougainville continues to be a special case. A renewed secession movement emerged in 1988 and resulted in a violent military campaign on the island, the closing of the Bougainville Copper Mine with serious financial consequences for the central government, the destruction or running-down of most infrastructure on the island and, ultimately, the total quarantining of the province for a decade. The Sandline affair of 1997 was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly that of the conflict in Bougainville.

The Bougainville secessionists came to terms with the central government in 1997. A constitution was drafted for a more autonomous regional polity within Papua New Guinea with its own president and provisions for a referendum on total autonomy in due course.

Government[]

Until 1995, the provinces had elected provincial assemblies and cabinets led by premiers; however, the country remained unitary, not federal. Unlike Canada, Australia and the United States, whose federal governments are creatures of the provinces or states, but as with the provinces and states of Pakistan and India, the provinces are creatures of the central government and can be suspended by it or have their boundaries changed. Indeed, there have been suspensions of several provincial governments to address corruption or incompetence by elected provincial governments. Changes in the boundaries of those provinces which are adjacent to the former boundary between the Territories of Papua and New Guinea can cause special complications in the administration of statutes which apply in Papua or New Guinea but not both.

Ultimately in June 1995 in an effort to re-assert a measure of control by the central government over the often wayward provinces in an environment of limited numbers of personnel qualified for public office in many of the provinces, the office of provincial premier was abolished and the regional (at-large) members of Parliament became provincial governors, while also retaining their seats in Parliament.

Naming of provinces[]

Several provincial governments have adopted a local name for their province. For example, Bougainville became North Solomons, Western became Fly River, Chimbu became Simbu, Northern became Oro and West Sepik became Sandaun.

Though these names are accorded popular acceptance, they remain unofficial, as formal changes in province names requires amendments to the Constitution, using the prescribed amending formula.

New provinces[]

In May 2012, two new provinces were established: Hela Province was split from Southern Highlands Province and Jiwaka Province from Western Highlands Province.^[1][4]

List of provinces[]

For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions and also into twenty-two provinces, as follows:

# (map)	Region	Province	Capital	Governor (2012-2017)	Area (km2)	Population (2011 census)	Density (pop/km2)
1	Southern Region	Central	Port Moresby	Kila Haoda	29,998	269,756	6.21
2	Highlands Region	Chimbu (Simbu)	Kundiawa	Noah Kool	6,112	376,473	42.42
3	Highlands Region	Eastern Highlands	Goroka	Julie Soso	11,157	579,825	38.35
4	Islands Region	East New Britain	Kokopo	Leo Dion	15,274	328,369	14.20
5	Momase Region	East Sepik	Wewak	Allan Bird	43,426	450,530	7.98
6	Highlands Region	Enga	Wabag	Peter Ipatas	11,704	432,045	22.60
7	Southern Region	Gulf	Kerema	Havila Kavo	34,472	158,194	3.04
8	Momase Region	Madang	Madang	Jim Kas	28,886	493,906	12.49
9	Islands Region	Manus	Lorengau	Charlie Benjamin	2,000	50,231	20.76
10	Southern Region	Milne Bay	Alotau	Titus Philemon	14,345	276,512	14.93
11	Momase Region	Morobe	Lae	Kelly Naru	33,705	674,810	15.56
12	Islands Region	New Ireland	Kavieng	Julius Chan	9,557	194,067	12.31
13	Southern Region	Oro (Northern)	Popondetta	Gary Juffa	22,735	186,309	5.82
14	Islands Region	Autonomous Region of Bougainville	Buka	John Momis (President) Joe Lera	9,384	249,358	15.18
15	Highlands Region	Southern Highlands	Mendi	William Powi	15,089	510,245	23.86
16	Southern Region	Western (Fly)	Daru	Ati Wobiro	98,189	201,351	1.53
17	Highlands Region	Western Highlands	Mount Hagen	Paias Wingti	4,299	362,850	59.12
18	Islands Region	West New Britain	Kimbe	Sasindran Muthuvel	20,387	264,264	8.80
19	Momase Region	Sandaun (West Sepik)	Vanimo	Tony Wouwou	35,820	248,411	5.12
20	Southern Region	National Capital District	Port Moresby	Powes Parkop	240	364,125	1051.95
21	Highlands Region	Hela	Tari	Anderson Agiru	10,498	249,449	17.71
22	Highlands Region	Jiwaka		William Tongamp	4,798	343,987	38.68

Regions[]

On a broader scale, PNG is divided into four regions. The regions are quite significant in daily life, and are often the basis for organisation of government services, corporate operations, sporting competitions and even the machinations of politics. For instance, there has been much discussion over the years of how many Prime Ministers have come from each region, and whether a particular region is due to provide the next one. Ministers and departmental heads are often appointed with an eye to maintaining an overall balance between regions.

People generally identify quite strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense. The four regions are:

• Highlands Region: Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Hela, Jiwaka, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
• Islands Region: East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, Bougainville (North Solomons), and West New Britain.
• Momase Region: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, and West Sepik (Sandaun).
• Southern Region: Central, Gulf, Milne Bay, Northern Province (Oro), Western (Fly), and the National Capital District.

Momase is a recently devised portmanteau word which combines the first two letters of Morobe, Madang, and Sepik.

See also[]

• ISO 3166-2:PG
• List of provinces of Papua New Guinea by Human Development Index
• Regions of Papua New Guinea
• Districts of Papua New Guinea
• Local-level governments of Papua New Guinea
• List of cities and towns in Papua New Guinea
• List of cities and towns in Papua New Guinea by population

References[]

• Papua New Guinea Country Statistics