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Countries and Regions Country Assistance Plans Document
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Country Assistance Plans - Papua New Guinea : I. Country Performance Assessment
B. Poverty Assessment8. After 25 years of independence and notwithstanding some economic and social progress, most of the people of PNG remain poor. During 1978-1998, per capita income grew at an average rate of about 1.1 percent. The Human Development Index (HDI) rose from 0.325 in 1970 to 0.507 in 1995, with life expectancy rising from 40 to 54 years. However, per capita gross national product was $890 in 1998, compared with $990 for East Asia and the Pacific, and $1,710 for middle-income countries. PNG's HDI for 1995 places the country 129th among 174 developing countries, and the HDI score for 1998 places it last in the list of Pacific developing member countries. In the health sector in particular, there is some evidence of regress during the 1990s. 9. While women provide most of the subsistence agriculture workforce, their participation in the formal economy is low and they account for only one in five of the paid work force. Females receive much less education and medical care than men. Male children are allocated a far greater share of household income than female children. Female literacy and school enrollment rates lag well behind those of males. Female representation in politics and public service management is negligible. Matrimonial violence against women is common. 10. Poverty in PNG has an important regional dimension. The vast majority of the poor (almost 94 percent) live in rural areas. The Momase/North Coast region exhibits the highest incidence of poverty, with 46 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The Momase/North Coast and Highlands Regions together account for 74 percent of the poor. These two regions also reflect low levels of human development. The urbanized National Capital District has a poverty rate of 26 percent and accounts for only 4 percent of the poor. 11. Poverty and low levels of human development also have an important gender dimension. Although improving over time, the Gender-related Development Index is lower than the overall HDI at the national level and for all provinces, demonstrating that women's life expectancy, income and educational achievements are universally lower than men's. PNG has the distinction of women's life expectancy lower than men's. 12. The poor in PNG exhibit some clear characteristics. The heads of poor households have low educational achievement (52 percent of the poor are in households whose head has never attended school, and a further 23 percent are in households whose heads have not been educated beyond grade 6). The incidence of poverty is also linked to the ability to earn cash incomes. Almost 17 percent of the poor live in households whose heads earn no cash incomes, relying on subsistence production (and perhaps gifts of cash). The poverty rate is also high for households whose main source of cash income is hunting, gathering and fishing. In general, increased provision of opportunities for earning secure cash incomes is needed in order to reduce the incidence and severity of poverty. 13. The fundamental and long-recognized development challenge for PNG is to achieve sustained economic growth with equity. The poorest 40 percent of the population must participate in, and benefit from, the growth process if poverty is to be alleviated. There are severe development constraints, including the rugged terrain of PNG's 462,000km2 , the complexity of land tenure systems, the dispersal of 4.5 million people collectively speaking well over 700 languages, limited and deteriorating physical infrastructure, a major personal security and crime problem, and the low level of human resource development.
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