Administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea
The administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea consist of twenty province-level divisions: nineteen provinces plus the National Capital District. Each province is divided into one or more districts, which in turn are divided into one or more Local Level Government areas.
Regions
The nation is divided into four regions. While not official administrative divisions for most purposes, these regional groupings are quite significant in daily life. People generally identify quite strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense. The four regions are:
- Highlands Region: Hela, Jiwaka, Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
- Islands Region: East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, North Solomons (Bougainville), and West New Britain.
- Momase Region: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, and West Sepik (Sandaun).
- Papua Region: Central, Gulf, Milne Bay, Northern Province (Oro), Western (Fly), and the National Capital District.
Momase is a recently devised portmanteau word which combines the first two letters of Morobe, Madang, and Sepik.
Provinces
Papua New Guinea has 20 province-level divisions: nineteen provinces plus the National Capital District. Provinces are the primary administrative divisions of the country. Provincial governments are branches of the national government - Papua New Guinea is not a federation of provinces. Each province forms a Provincial electorate for the national parliament. The provinces are as follows:
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Districts
Each province is divided into one or more districts. 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.