Number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea: Number of airline passengers per year was 1.55 million in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
1.55 million
Change on year
up 4.9%
World rank
88th
of 183 countries
All-time high
2.07 million
in 2014
All-time low
355,000
in 1975
Years of data
49
1975–2023

Number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea, 1975–2023

500.0k1.0M1.5M2.0M197519992023

Source: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.

Analysis

The most recent figure for number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea is 1.55 million, measured in 2023.

That represents a change of up 4.9% on the previous year and down 17.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea peaked at 2.07 million in 2014 and was at its lowest, 355,000, in 1975.

That places Papua New Guinea 88th out of 183 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 49 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1970s 460,980 355,000 572,300 5
1980s 707,430 533,800 963,400 10
1990s 999,750 866,000 1.11 million 10
2000s 938,427 690,528 1.23 million 10
2010s 1.77 million 1.41 million 2.07 million 10
2020s 1.25 million 932,389 1.55 million 4

Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea

  1. 85 Tanzania 1.91 million compare
  2. 86 Venezuela 1.78 million compare
  3. 87 Croatia 1.67 million compare
  4. 89 Rwanda 1.54 million compare
  5. 90 Mauritius 1.50 million compare
  6. 91 Bahamas 1.47 million compare

See the full ranking of 183 places →

More reference data data for Papua New Guinea

All data for Papua New Guinea →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea?
Number of airline passengers per year in Papua New Guinea was 1.55 million in 2023, according to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest number of airline passengers per year recorded in Papua New Guinea?
The highest recorded value was 2.07 million in 2014.
What is the lowest number of airline passengers per year recorded in Papua New Guinea?
The lowest recorded value was 355,000 in 1975.
How does Papua New Guinea rank for number of airline passengers per year?
Papua New Guinea ranks 88th out of 183 countries with data for 2023.
Is number of airline passengers per year rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
Over the last ten years it is down 17.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
The figures come from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Number of airline passengers per year. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 49 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Number of airline passengers per year
Source
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
183 places, 7,925 data points, 1970–2023
Last refreshed

This represents the total rather than unique passenger activity: this means a person who makes multiple trips is counted multiple times.