Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (PNG; , ; ; ), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. At the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly 60
Administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea districts. As at 2011, there were 87 districts in PNG. 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. Each district is divided into one or more Local-Level Government areas, with the exception of the National Capital District. Administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is divided into administrative divisions called regions and provinces. Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions and 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces plus the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital