Free country in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Free country was 1 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Latest (2025)
1
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
90th
of 199 countries
All-time high
2
in 1976
All-time low
1
in 1975
Years of data
50
1975–2025
Free country in Papua New Guinea, 1975–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Papua New Guinea recorded 1 for free country in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 50 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, free country in Papua New Guinea peaked at 2 in 1976 and was at its lowest, 1, in 1975.
That places Papua New Guinea 90th out of 199 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 50 years of available data.
Free country in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 1 | — |
| 1976 | 2 | +100.0% |
| 1977 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1980 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1991 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 1 | -50.0% |
| 1994 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 2 | +100.0% |
| 1999 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 1 | -50.0% |
| 2004 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 1 | +0.0% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 1 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 1, 1.0× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 1 is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 2, 50% of the median. (31 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1.8 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 1980s | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 1990s | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 2000s | 1.3 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
- 90 Albania 1 compare
- 90 Armenia 1 compare
- 90 Bangladesh 1 compare
- 90 Benin 1 compare
- 90 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 compare
- 90 Comoros 1 compare
- 90 Cote d'Ivoire 1 compare
- 90 Dominican Republic 1 compare
- 90 Ecuador 1 compare
- 90 El Salvador 1 compare
- 90 Gambia 1 compare
- 90 Georgia 1 compare
- 90 Guatemala 1 compare
- 90 Guinea-Bissau 1 compare
- 90 Honduras 1 compare
- 90 Hong Kong 1 compare
- 90 Hungary 1 compare
- 90 India 1 compare
- 90 Indonesia 1 compare
- 90 Jordan 1 compare
- 90 Kenya 1 compare
- 90 Lebanon 1 compare
- 90 Liberia 1 compare
- 90 Madagascar 1 compare
- 90 Malaysia 1 compare
- 90 Maldives 1 compare
- 90 Mauritania 1 compare
- 90 Mexico 1 compare
- 90 Moldova 1 compare
- 90 Montenegro 1 compare
- 90 Morocco 1 compare
- 90 Mozambique 1 compare
- 90 Nepal 1 compare
- 90 Nigeria 1 compare
- 90 North Macedonia 1 compare
- 90 Pakistan 1 compare
- 90 Paraguay 1 compare
- 90 Peru 1 compare
- 90 Philippines 1 compare
- 90 Serbia 1 compare
- 90 Sierra Leone 1 compare
- 90 Singapore 1 compare
- 90 Sri Lanka 1 compare
- 90 Togo 1 compare
- 90 Tunisia 1 compare
- 90 USSR 1 compare
- 90 Ukraine 1 compare
- 90 Zambia 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 free country in Papua New Guinea?
- Free country in Papua New Guinea was 1 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest free country recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 2 in 1976.
- What is the lowest free country recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 1 in 1975.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for free country?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 90th out of 199 countries with data for 2025.
- Is free country rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
- The figures come from Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Free country. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 50 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The variable identifies the political regime of a country. It distinguishes between free countries (score 2), partly free countries (score 1), and not free countries (score 0).