nes
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, Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol

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

People

Population: 4,705,126 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 39% (male 951,532; female 902,841)
15-64 years: 58% (male 1,411,053; female 1,298,937)
65 years and over: 3% (male 64,101; female 76,662) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.26% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 32.04 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 9.47 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 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
total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 55.58 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 58.47 years
male: 57.58 years
female: 59.4 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.17 children born/woma