Papua New Guinea — World Gazetteer, 2005 edition
Papua New Guinea had an estimated population of 5,848,951 in 2005, with 42 places recorded. Archived from the World Gazetteer, the reference work formerly published at this domain.
For current figures: Papua New Guinea today — population now 10,947,848, against 5,848,951 in 2005.
| Source | 2005 | Now | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Gazetteer (the work cited) | 5,848,951 | — | — |
| UN World Population Prospects | 6,535,905 | 10,947,848 | +68% |
The two sources differ by 11% for 2005. The Gazetteer figure is the one the citation you followed refers to; the UN pair is the like-for-like comparison.
Cities and towns, 2005
| # | Place | Region | Population (2005) | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Moresby | National Capital District | 283,733 | 283,733 now |
| 2 | Lae | Morobe | 76,255 | 76,255 now |
| 3 | Arawa | North Solomons | 40,266 | 40,266 now |
| 4 | Mount Hagen | Western Highlands | 33,623 | 33,623 now |
| 5 | Popondetta | Oro | 28,198 | 28,198 now |
| 6 | Madang | Madang | 27,419 | 27,419 now |
| 7 | Kokopo | East New Britain | 26,273 | 26,273 now |
| 8 | Mendi | Southern Highlands | 26,252 | 26,252 now |
| 9 | Kimbe | West New Britain | 18,847 | 18,847 now |
| 10 | Goroka | Eastern Highlands | 18,503 | 18,503 now |
| 11 | Wewak | East Sepik | 18,230 | 18,230 now |
| 12 | Bulolo | Morobe | 16,042 | 16,042 now |
| 13 | Daru | Fly River | 15,214 | 15,214 now |
| 14 | Wau | Morobe | 14,629 | 14,629 now |
| 15 | Kavieng | New Ireland | 14,490 | 14,490 now |
| 16 | Alotau | Milne Bay | 12,095 | 10,025 now |
| 17 | Kiunga | Fly River | 11,536 | 11,536 now |
| 18 | Vanimo | Sandaun | 11,204 | 11,204 now |
| 19 | Tari | Southern Highlands | 10,333 | 8,186 now |
| 20 | Kundiawa | Simbu | 9,383 | 9,383 now |
| 21 | Kainantu | Eastern Highlands | 8,509 | 8,509 now |
| 22 | Rabaul | East New Britain | 8,074 | 8,074 now |
| 23 | Buka | 7,345 | — | |
| 24 | Ialibu | Southern Highlands | 6,915 | 6,915 now |
| 25 | Kokoda | Oro | 6,199 | 6,199 now |
| 26 | Lorengau | Manus | 5,806 | 5,806 now |
| 27 | Kerema | Gulf | 5,646 | 5,646 now |
| 28 | Aitape | East Sepik | 5,547 | 5,547 now |
| 29 | Wabag | Enga | 3,958 | 3,958 now |
| 30 | Kieta | North Solomons | 3,611 | 3,611 now |
| 31 | Balimo | Fly River | 3,601 | — |
| 32 | Panguna | North Solomons | 2,916 | 2,916 now |
| 33 | Morehead | Fly River | 2,246 | 2,246 now |
| 34 | Ambunti | East Sepik | 2,073 | 2,073 now |
| 35 | Samarai | Milne Bay | 1,638 | 1,638 now |
| 36 | Angoram | East Sepik | 1,604 | — |
| 37 | Porgera | Enga | 1,578 | 1,578 now |
| 38 | Namatanai | New Ireland | 1,376 | 1,542 now |
| 39 | Finschhafen | Madang | 1,054 | 1,054 now |
| 40 | Kandrian | West New Britain | 1,014 | 1,014 now |
| 41 | Laiagam | Enga | 921 | 921 now |
| 42 | Buin | North Solomons | 750 | 750 now |
The Today column links to our current page for the same place, where one matches by name and plausible size; the figure shown there is today's, never 2005's. A dash means no confident match, which is more honest than a guessed link.
Administrative divisions, 2005
| # | Name | Population (2005) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Highlands | 687,139 |
| 2 | Morobe | 622,512 |
| 3 | Western Highlands | 511,372 |
| 4 | Eastern Highlands | 489,442 |
| 5 | Madang | 406,883 |
| 6 | East Sepik | 383,588 |
| 7 | Enga | 313,689 |
| 8 | Simbu | 291,848 |
| 9 | National Capital District | 283,733 |
| 10 | East New Britain | 236,287 |
| 11 | Milne Bay | 232,914 |
| 12 | West New Britain | 215,572 |
| 13 | Sandaun | 209,364 |
| 14 | Central | 202,088 |
| 15 | Fly River | 174,395 |
| 16 | Oro | 149,967 |
| 17 | New Ireland | 133,326 |
| 18 | North Solomons | 132,886 |
| 19 | Gulf | 123,312 |
| 20 | Manus | 48,634 |
The complete dataset is available as a free CSV download, with attribution to Stefan Helders / World Gazetteer.