# Indonesia and Papua New Guinea compared Indonesia and Papua New Guinea side by side: 42 shared sourced indicators across 9 domains, and the 1 events their chronicles record of each other. Canonical: https://terralore.co/compare/idn-vs-png Updated: 2026-08-11 (latest of the two dossiers' refreshes and the two chronicles' verification dates) Two sourced records set beside each other — nothing on this page was written for the pair. Every figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two national dossiers; every event is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle. Figures are compared, never graded. A "—" is an absence in the source data, never a zero; each value shows its own observation year — vintages differ by indicator and nation. ## Formation - Indonesia: 17 August 1945 — Sukarno and Hatta proclaim Indonesian independence - Papua New Guinea: 16 September 1975 — Papua New Guinea becomes independent of Australia ## Economy | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | GDP | $1.40 T | 2024 | $32 B | 2024 | | GDP per capita | $4,925 | 2024 | $3,007 | 2024 | | GDP growth | 5.0% | 2024 | 3.8% | 2024 | | Inflation | 2.2% | 2024 | 0.6% | 2024 | | Trade openness | 42.6% | 2024 | 131.1% | 2004 | ## Society | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population | 283 m | 2024 | 11 m | 2024 | | Life expectancy | 71.3 yrs | 2024 | 66.3 yrs | 2024 | | Urban population | 58.8% | 2024 | 15.4% | 2024 | | Fertility rate | 2.1 | 2024 | 3.1 | 2024 | ## Governance | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Voice & accountability | 53.8 | 2024 | 51.1 | 2024 | | Political stability | 55.5 | 2024 | 54.7 | 2024 | | Government effectiveness | 54.8 | 2024 | 33.8 | 2024 | | Regulatory quality | 56.8 | 2024 | 45.4 | 2024 | | Rule of law | 53.4 | 2024 | 47.1 | 2024 | | Control of corruption | 36.8 | 2024 | 31.7 | 2024 | ## Health | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Health spending | 2.7% | 2023 | 2.9% | 2023 | | Physicians | 0.52 | 2023 | 0.06 | 2023 | | Under-5 mortality | 17.7 | 2024 | 39.4 | 2024 | | Measles immunisation | 85.0% | 2024 | 44.0% | 2024 | | Safe drinking water | 30.5% | 2024 | — | — | ## Education | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Adult literacy | 96.0% | 2020 | 87.0% | 2022 | | Education spending | 1.3% | 2023 | 0.8% | 2023 | | Primary enrolment | 100.4% | 2025 | 121.1% | 2023 | | Secondary enrolment | 97.2% | 2025 | 52.1% | 2023 | | Tertiary enrolment | 44.9% | 2023 | — | — | ## Technology | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | R&D spending | 0.3% | 2020 | 0.0% | 2016 | | Researchers (per million) | 395 | 2020 | 33 | 2016 | | Internet users | 72.8% | 2024 | 18.8% | 2024 | | Mobile subscriptions | 123 | 2024 | 39 | 2024 | | High-tech exports | 8.7% | 2024 | 10.2% | 2023 | ## Geography | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Land area | 1,892,555 km² | 2023 | 452,860 km² | 2023 | | Forest area | 47.7% | 2023 | 79.0% | 2023 | | Agricultural land | 29.1% | 2023 | 3.1% | 2023 | | CO₂ per capita (t) | 2.9 | 2024 | 0.5 | 2024 | | Renewable energy | 20.2% | 2021 | 54.6% | 2022 | ## Resources | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Resource rents | 5.2% | 2021 | 27.4% | 2021 | | Oil rents | 0.8% | 2021 | 1.9% | 2021 | | Mineral rents | 1.9% | 2021 | 14.4% | 2021 | | Forest rents | 0.4% | 2021 | 2.0% | 2021 | | Electricity access | 99.4% | 2023 | 20.5% | 2023 | | Copper (mined) | 710 kt | 2025 | — | — | | Gold (mined) | 90 t | 2025 | — | — | | Cobalt (mined) | 44.0 kt | 2025 | 2,800 t | 2025 | | Nickel (mined) | 2.6 Mt | 2025 | — | — | | Bauxite | 10 Mt | 2025 | — | — | ## Military | Metric | Indonesia | Observed | Papua New Guinea | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Military burden | 0.8% | 2024 | 0.3% | 2024 | | Defense spending | $11 B | 2024 | $91 M | 2024 | | Armed forces | 676,000 | 2020 | 4,000 | 2020 | Each metric is also ranked across all nations: https://terralore.co/rankings (markdown twins at /rankings/.md). Full dossiers: https://terralore.co/country/IDN.md and https://terralore.co/country/PNG.md. ## Entangled histories (1 event) Events in which either nation's sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the record exactly as its own chronicle carries it, with that chronicle's sources. - 1963: **West New Guinea transferred to Indonesia** — The United Nations hands control of the island's western half to Indonesia; the two governments agree the position of their shared border ten years later. (from the Papua New Guinea chronicle; sources: Papua New Guinea country profile) ## Sources - World Development Indicators — World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://data.worldbank.org - Worldwide Governance Indicators (via World Bank API) — Worldwide Governance Indicators / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators - Global Health Observatory (WHO, via World Bank WDI) — WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.who.int/data/gho - Child mortality & immunisation estimates (UN IGME and WHO/UNICEF, via World Bank WDI) — UNICEF and WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://childmortality.org - R&D statistics (UNESCO UIS, via World Bank WDI) — UNESCO Institute for Statistics / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://uis.unesco.org - ICT indicators (ITU, via World Bank WDI) — ITU / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics - Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain (U.S. Government work) · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center - Military Expenditure Database (via World Development Indicators) — SIPRI / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex Chronicle references are cited inline above and resolve in full at https://terralore.co/country/IDN/chronicle.md and https://terralore.co/country/PNG/chronicle.md. Citation template: Terralore, "Indonesia and Papua New Guinea compared", terralore.co/compare/idn-vs-png, retrieved .