_____ _____
Global Sourcebook for International Data Management
by Graham Rhind
For supplementary information, see links to post office home pages here , to postal code pages here and to other personal name and addressing issues pages here .
Note: This section last updated 30th May 2021
1,234.45
(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)
Papua New Guinea has 817 languages, many spoken by relatively small numbers of people. The official language is English (50 000 speakers). Other national languages are Hiri Motu (120 000 mostly second-language speakers) and Tok Pisin (Pidgin English, with some 2 000 000 mainly second-language speakers). The other main languages are: Enga (164 750 speakers); Hamtai (40 000 speakers); Huli (70000 speakers); Kamano (70 000 speakers); Kuanua (61 000 speakers); Kuman (Simbu) (80 000 speakers); Medlpa (130 000 speakers); Sinasina (50 079 speakers) and Wahgi (60 000 speakers).
Women tend to take their husband’s names upon marriage but retain their own after their husband’s name preceded by née:
Mrs Josepha Eafere née Temu
Children often do not take their parent’s family name but may be given the name of a warrior uncle or the best fisherman in the villlage, so that siblings do not necessarily share names.
Tribal heads should be addressed as Big Man followed by the family name.
Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles
Addresses are usually written in English. Addresses may be street or post office box addresses, and may contain a province name.
A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired
This is written PO Box.
Note: This section last updated 6th September 2020
Papua New Guinea has Postal Codes with the format:
999
but these are rarely used. They are written on the same line as, and after, the postal town name. The postal codes currently range from 111 to 641. Letters found after (or sometimes before) the postal code are province abbreviations.
Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired
\A([1][1-9][0-9]|[2-5][0-9][0-9]|(6)[0-3][0-9]|(640)|(641))\Z
Note: This section last updated 23rd May 2014
Refer to Exonyms in Papua New Guinea for full lists of place names in Papua New Guinea in other languages.
Papua New Guinea has 22 provinces :
Province | Postal code range |
Bougainville (North Solomons) | 35 |
Central | 15-16 |
Chimbu | 46 |
Eastern Highlands | 44 |
East New Britain | 61 |
East Sepik | 53 |
Enga | 29 |
Gulf | 31 |
Hela | 25-26 (shared with Southern Highlands) |
Jiwaka | 28 (shared with Western Highlands) |
Madang | 51-52 |
Manus | 64 |
Milne Bay | 21-22 |
Morobe | 41-43 |
National Capital District | 11-13 |
New Ireland | 63 |
Northern | 24 |
Sandaun (West Sepik) | 55 |
Southern Highlands | 25-26 (shared with Hela) |
Western | 33 |
Western Highlands | 28 (shared with Jiwaka) |
West New Britain | 62 |
This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file
Note: This section last updated 11th January 2021
Papuan telephone numbers have no area codes. Landline subscriber numbers have 7 digits, mobile numbers 8 digits. Mobile numbers begin with a 7 or 88.
Every effort is made to keep this resource updated. If you find any errors, or have any questions or requests, please don't hesitate to contact the author.
All information copyright Graham Rhind 2024. Any information used should be acknowledged and referenced.