Papua New Guinea

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Anthem	O Arise, All You Sons Watch on youtube
Capital	Port Moresby
Largest city	Port Moresby
Official language(s)	English Tok Pisin Hiri Motu
Demonym(a name for a resident of a locality, often the same as the name of the people's native language)	Papua New Guinean
Government	Federal Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy
Area	462,840 km2, 178,703 sq mi
Population	~ 7 million
Currency	Papua New Guinean kina (PGK)
Internet TLD	.pg

Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania. It occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore(located in the sea away from the coast) islands. It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, north of Australia.

The capital of the country is Port Moresby. The city is the largest city of Papua New Guinea and has an estimated population of 307,643.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse(consisting of many different elements) countries on Earth. There are over 850 indigenous(native to a land or region, especially before an intrusion) languages in the country. There are almost as many traditional societies in the population of just under 7 million.

There are hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to Papua New Guinea. The majority is from the group known as Papuans. Many remote(distant or otherwise disconnected from others) Papuan tribes(socially, ethnically, and politically cohesive groups of people) still have only little contact with the outside world. Another ethnic group is the group of Austronesians. There are also numerous people from other parts of the world in the country, including Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Filipinos, Polynesians and Micronesians.

Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country. Over 820 indigenous languages in the country represent twelve percent of the world's total. The indigenous languages are classified into two large groups: Austronesian languages and non-Austronesian (or Papuan) languages. There are three official languages in Papua New Guinea. English is an official language and is the language of government and the education system. However, it is not widely spoken. The primary lingua franca(a common language used by people of diverse backgrounds to communicate with one another) of the country is Tok Pisin (commonly known in English as New Guinea Pidgin). The only area where Tok Pisin is not dominant is the southern region of Papua. In this region, people often use the third official language, Hiri Motu.

The 2000 census found that 96% of citizens identified themselves as members of a Christian church. However, many citizens combine their Christian faith with some pre-Christian traditional indigenous religious practices(customary actions and behavior). Minority religions include the Bahá'í Faith (15,000 people) and Islam (more than 4000 people).

Papua New Guinea's head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. She is also the head of state of 15 other countries and of the Commonwealth of Nations, of which Papua New Guinea is a member. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, currently Sir Paulias Matane. Actual executive(responsible for enforcing laws and judicial decisions, and for the day-to-day running of the state) power lies with the Prime Minister who heads the cabinet(the group of ministers responsible for creating government policy and for overseeing the departments comprising the executive branch). The current Prime Minister is Sir Michael Somare.

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed(to be furnished with something naturally) with natural resources. Agriculture provides a livelihood(a person's means of supporting himself) for 85% of the population. Mineral deposits, including oil, copper(a reddish-brown, metallic element), and gold, account for 72% of export earnings. The country also has a notable coffee industry. Other crops(plants grown for food) include cocoa, oil palm and tea. Still, many people live in extreme poverty(the state of having little or no money). About one third of the population lives on less than US$1.25 per day.