For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is divided into administrative divisions called

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

and

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

is divided into four regions and 22 province-level divisions: 20

plus the autonomous region ( Bougainville) and the

National Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politi ...

.Provinces of Papua New Guinea
on statoids.com Each province is divided into one or more districts, which in turn are divided into one or more local level government areas (LLGs).

Regions

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 HeLa (; also Hela or hela) is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line is derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951, named after Henrietta ...

, Jiwaka, Simbu,

Eastern Highlands :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabw ...

, Enga, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands. *

Islands Region The New Guinea Islands Region is one of four regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG), comprising the Bismarck Archipelago and north-western Solomon Islands Archipelago, located north-east of New Guinea island (the mainland). This is the least populou ...

East New Britain East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely de ...

, Manus, New Ireland, North Solomons (Bougainville), and

West New Britain West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province is 20,387 km² with a population of 264,264 as of the 2011 census. The province's only land border is ...

. * Momase Region:

East Sepik East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

, Morobe, and West Sepik (Sandaun). * Southern Region: Central,

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

, Milne Bay, Northern Province (Oro), Western (Fly), and the

. ''Momase'' is a recently devised

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMorobe'', ''

'', and ''

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

''.

Provinces

PNG is also divided into 22 province-level divisions: 20

plus the autonomous region ( Bougainville) and the

. Provinces are the primary administrative divisions of PNG. Provincial governments are branches of the national government - PNG is not a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

of provinces. Each province forms a provincial electorate for the

national parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The provinces are as follows:

Districts

Each province is divided into one or more districts. As of 2011, there were 87 districts in PNG.Districts of Papua New Guinea
on statoids.com 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.

References

{{reflist Subdivisions of Papua New Guinea