ries:
total: 820 km
border countries: Indonesia 820 km

Coastline: 5,152 km

Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast
monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation

Terrain: mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m

Natural resources: gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil,
fisheries

Land use:
arable land: 0.1%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 92.9%
other: 6% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: active volcanism; situated along the Pacific "Rim of
Fire"; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe
earthquakes; mud slides

Environment-current issues: rain forest subject to deforestation as a
result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution
from mining projects; severe drought

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol

Geography-note: shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of
world's largest swamps along southwest coast

@Papua New Guinea:People

Population: 4,599,785 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (male 936,206; female 888,427)
15-64 years: 57% (male 1,374,471; female 1,263,750)
65 years and over: 3% (male 62,593; female 74,338) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.27% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 32.37 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 9.65 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 57.09 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 58.06 years
male: 57.18 years
female: 58.98 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.26 children