Share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Share of marine territorial waters that are protected was 0.1% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea, 2013–2025
Source: Protected Planet WDPA and WD-OECM data, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of territorial waters.
Analysis
In 2025, share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea stood at 0.1%. That is the lowest value across all 13 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 50.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea peaked at 0.2% in 2013 and was at its lowest, 0.1%, in 2019.
Papua New Guinea ranks 139th of 174 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 13 years of available data.
Share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % of territorial waters | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.2% | — |
| 2014 | 0.2% | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 0.2% | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.2% | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 0.2% | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.2% | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 0.1% | -50.0% |
| 2020 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 0.1% | +0.0% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 0.1% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.7%, 14% of the median. (36 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 0.1% is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.8%, 12% of the median. (34 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 7 |
| 2020s | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
- 139 Algeria 0.1% compare
- 139 Cape Verde 0.1% compare
- 139 Cayman Islands 0.1% compare
- 139 Dominica 0.1% compare
- 139 Grenada 0.1% compare
- 139 Liberia 0.1% compare
- 139 Maldives 0.1% compare
- 139 Solomon Islands 0.1% compare
- 139 Tonga 0.1% compare
- 139 Trinidad and Tobago 0.1% compare
More reference data data for Papua New Guinea
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.2042 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.0498 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 0.3515 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0007 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 0.3515 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.6846 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.5295 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.2811 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 1.89 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0038 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea?
- Share of marine territorial waters that are protected in Papua New Guinea was 0.1% in 2025, according to Protected Planet WDPA and WD-OECM data, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of marine territorial waters that are protected recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 0.2% in 2013.
- What is the lowest share of marine territorial waters that are protected recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.1% in 2019.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for share of marine territorial waters that are protected?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 139th out of 174 countries with data for 2025.
- Is share of marine territorial waters that are protected rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 50.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
- The figures come from Protected Planet WDPA and WD-OECM data, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of marine territorial waters that are protected. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Marine protected areas are regions of intertidal or sub-tidal land and associated water, flora and fauna, and cultural and historical features that have been legally or effectively reserved for protection.