National Statistics Office

She raised concerns during a press conference press held yesterday in Port Moresby.

Sawang said the report known as National Population Estimate 2021 revealed that PNG’s population currently stands at 11.781 million with a growth rate of 4.9 percent.

She said population growth has increased considerably since the last census was conducted and places even greater pressure on Government to deliver minimum essential health and education services to our people.

NSO has begun preparing Officers to implement the 2018 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) which is intended to establish a new base level from the previous 2012 Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket.

The NSO says the HIES is important for the revision of the CPI basket of goods and services because over the years spending patterns of people change and the CPI must report changes in prices of goods and services that people mostly spend their income to meet their daily needs.

This is according to Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Charles Abel, when speaking to the media today.

According to the 2011 Census, the PNG population stood at 7.3 million people.

And with a population growth rate of 3.1 per cent, in the absence of a recent census, the population of the country could stand at over 8 million people.

According to data from the National Statistical Office (NSO), PNG’s population has risen by 40 per cent since the 2000 Census, at a growth rate of 3.1 per cent.