For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is divided into administrative divisions called regions and provinces. Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions and 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces plus the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District.[1]
Each province is divided into one or more districts, which in turn are divided into one or more local level government areas (LLGs).
Regions
![](../I/Papua_New_Guinea_regions.png.webp)
PNG is divided into four regions. While not official administrative divisions for most purposes, regions are quite significant in daily life. People generally identify strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense.
There are four regions, each of which comprises a number of provinces:
- Highlands Region: Hela, Jiwaka, Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
- Islands Region: East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, North Solomons (Bougainville), 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.
Provinces
PNG is also divided into 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces plus the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District.[1]
Provinces are the primary administrative divisions of PNG. Provincial governments are branches of the national government - PNG is not a federation of provinces. Each province forms a provincial electorate for the national parliament. The provinces are as follows:
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![]() Provinces of Papua New Guinea |
Districts
Each province is divided into one or more districts. As of 2011, there were 87 districts in PNG.[2]
Each district forms an open electorate for the national parliament, with the exception of the National Capital District, which is further divided into three open electorates.
Local-level governments
Each district is divided into one or more Local-Level Government areas, with the exception of the National Capital District.
There are 326 LLGs comprising 6,112 wards as of 2018.[3]
References
- 1 2 Provinces of Papua New Guinea on statoids.com
- ↑ Districts of Papua New Guinea on statoids.com
- ↑ OCHA FISS (2018). "Papua New Guinea administrative level 0, 1, 2, and 3 population statistics and gazetteer". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.