Population Growth

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Young people of Timor-Leste.
Photographer: Penny Tweedie

The populations of Pacific island countries vary enormously. Six countries have populations of less than 100,000 people. By contrast, about six million people live in Papua New Guinea. More than 80 per cent of the region’s population lives in the four poorest countries—Kiribati, Timor-Leste Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Except for Fiji, population growth rates in Melanesia exceed 2.5 per cent. They are also high in Micronesia and have reached more than three per cent in Timor-Leste. ‘Youth bulges’ put pressure on countries to provide jobs and employment.