The PNG National Statistics Office population estimates, the PNG has an estimated population of 11.7 million people. Photo: Supplied
Papua New Guinea's soaring population is projected to reached 21 million people by 2050 based on figures made available by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This would create major challenges for the country such as improving access to nutrition, education, employment and health.
According to the PNG National Statistics Office population estimates, the PNG has an estimated population of 11.7 million people.
The country currently has a very young population and the UNFPA said the youth cohort is now 58 percent of the total.
But the UNFPA country representative Saira Shameem said the potential benefits for PNG from what is called the "demographic dividend" are enormous.
She said by 2050 the youth population will still be very significant at 44 percent, and she believes there is time to turn this challenge around
"A recent UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF study in Papua New Guinea on investing in women's, adolescents' and children's health, showed that if we can reach a 95 percent coverage for family planning, maternal, new-born and child health, including nutrition, we could potentially shift the needle on this problem," she said.
Shameem said the agencies estimate it would take US$206 million to achieve this turnaround but that the return, the dividend, would be ten times that.
For her a critical requirement is that the population has access to modern family planning and contraception.
"And the needs are driven by a focus on pacing of pregnancies and children, which in turn would guarantee maternal health as well as reduce the risk of low birth weight babies, and ultimately bridge the gap between the wanted fertility rate and the actual fertility rate.
"So we trying to bridge that gap."
