Globally, the figure would be around seven billion, UNFP interim president Ian Howie said.
He was speaking at the commemoration of World Population Day in Port Moresby, which also coincided with the first day of PNG’s national census.
Also at the gathering were U.N. resident coordinator Bertrand Desmoulins, Department of National Planning acting secretary Ruby Zarriga and National Statistician Joseph Aka.
Desmoulins said World Population Day marked the launch of the U.N. “The World at 7 Billion” people campaign.
“The campaign highlights that every safe childbirth leads to smaller and stronger families – these families are then better equipped to face the challenges of an increasingly populated world,” he said.
“PNG has an extremely high maternal mortality rate — in 2006, 733 mothers died for every 100,000 live births. Safe motherhood is a pressing concern for Papua New Guinea,” Desmoulins said.
He said the U.N. was working with the government of PNG to better understand the links between population and the other areas of development, to gather and analyze data to ensure national plans and policies are based on evidence.
“The scarcity of and the lack of reliable data on population and health and mortality in the country have made it difficult to move forward with meaningful development practices,” he said.
Zarriga said “youth and adolescents in a world of seven billion” was important for PNG because this was the age in which girls and boys learnt life skills needed for their adulthood.
Howie said PNG’s population could well reach seven million once the census was completed but whether “we will live together equitably in a healthy PNG depends on the choices and decisions Papua New Guineans make now in the world of seven billion.”
“We do not know for sure what the population of PNG is like at this stage,” Aka said.
