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Country guide· 15 min read

Papua New Guinea rankings 2026: where Papua New Guinea places in 83 global Top 10s

Papua New Guinea is #2 in Countries with the highest child overweight rates and inside the top 10 of 15 rankings. Every position, value and source, regenerated as the data refreshes.

How does Papua New Guinea compare with the rest of the world? On Top10Earth it is ranked in 83 of 491 live country rankings, each one built from a named public source. This page gathers every position, value and date in one place. Its best position is #2 in Countries with the highest child overweight rates, where it is measured at 18.5 % (Overweight among children under 5) as of 2026-11-02. Papua New Guinea finishes inside the top 10 in 15 rankings.

Top 10 finishes

Papua New Guinea is inside the top 10 of 15 further rankings. Each entry names the country directly above it, which is the position to beat at the next refresh.

The remaining 3 top-10 positions are in the full list at the end of this guide.

Papua New Guinea by theme

The rankings are grouped by category below, so the economic picture, the health picture and the environmental picture can be read separately. Positions are out of the number of countries each source reports, which differs by ranking.

Environment and energy

In environment and energy, Papua New Guinea holds 23 positions: #5 of 50 in Countries with the most renewable freshwater per person (78.5k cubic metres per person), #7 of 49 in Countries producing the most palm oil (770 thousand tonnes), #10 of 50 in Most forested countries (75.15 % of land) and #13 of 50 in Countries with the lowest access to electricity (43.3 % of population). 19 more rankings are listed below.

Health and wellbeing

In health and wellbeing, Papua New Guinea holds 20 positions: #2 of 50 in Countries with the highest child overweight rates (18.5 %), #2 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of overweight children under 5 (18.5 % of children under 5 (modeled estimate)), #2 of 50 in Countries with the highest tuberculosis incidence (664 per 100,000 people) and #6 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of adults who use tobacco (39.3 % of adults). 16 more rankings are listed below.

Food and agriculture

In food and agriculture, Papua New Guinea holds 16 positions: #10 of 44 in Countries with the most land used for palm oil (281.94 thousand hectares), #12 of 50 in Countries with the highest prevalence of undernourishment (28.7 %), #13 of 50 in Countries using the most cereals for human food (98.8 %) and #14 of 50 in Countries with the highest sorghum yields (4.43 tonnes per hectare). 12 more rankings are listed below.

Finance and crypto

In finance and crypto, Papua New Guinea holds 13 positions: #6 of 50 in Countries with the heaviest debt service burden (share of exports) (43.34 % of exports of goods, services and primary income), #10 of 50 in Countries with the largest current account surpluses relative to GDP (14.99 % of GDP), #11 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of people living on under $3 a day (52.2 % of population) and #15 of 50 in Countries with the highest foreign investment outflows (2.5 % of GDP). 9 more rankings are listed below.

World and society

In world and society, Papua New Guinea holds 8 positions: #3 of 50 in Countries with the highest average annual precipitation (3,142 mm per year), #3 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of people without improved water (39.44 %), #8 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of underweight children under 5 (27.8 % of children under 5) and #24 of 50 in Countries with the largest share of people practicing open defecation (15.64 %). 4 more rankings are listed below.

Education and science

In education and science, Papua New Guinea holds 2 positions: #16 of 50 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education (4 years) and #50 of 50 in Countries with the most students reaching minimum maths level (primary) (55.35 %).

Consumer tech

In consumer tech, Papua New Guinea holds 1 position: #7 of 50 in Countries by communications, computer, etc. (72.63 % of service imports, BoP).

What changed at the latest refresh

Comparing each ranking's newest snapshot with the one before it, Papua New Guinea moved in 81 rankings:

Where Papua New Guinea ranks lowest

A guide that only listed wins would be misleading. Papua New Guinea's lowest current positions are 50th of 50 in Countries with the highest cereal yields (4.79 tonnes per hectare), 50th of 50 in Countries with the highest meningitis death rates (2.5 per 100,000 people) and 50th of 50 in Countries with the largest total fisheries production (345.36 thousand metric tons). Whether a low position is good or bad depends on the metric: being near the bottom of an emissions or mortality ranking is the better place to be.

Every ranking that includes Papua New Guinea

How to read these numbers

Each ranking measures one metric from one named source at one time, so a #3 in one table and a #3 in another are not directly comparable. Countries also report in different years: the capture date is when Top10Earth fetched the data, while the source's own year is stated on each ranking page under methodology. For a side-by-side with another country on the same measures, open any ranking and use the head-to-head links, or visit Papua New Guinea's entity page for the live table and rank-history chart.

Top10Earth never estimates or edits a value. Each number is fetched from its source on a schedule, hashed, stored and ranked by software, then checked by a quality gate before it is published. If a refresh fails that gate the previous snapshot stays live and a person looks at why. Every past snapshot is kept, which is what makes the rank-history charts on each ranking page possible.

Questions people ask about Papua New Guinea

What is Papua New Guinea's best ranking on Top10Earth?

#2 in Countries with the highest child overweight rates, with 18.5 % (Overweight among children under 5) as of 2026-11-02.

How many rankings include Papua New Guinea?

83 current country rankings out of 491 on the site.

Is Papua New Guinea in the top 10 of anything?

Yes: 15 rankings, including #2 in Countries with the highest child overweight rates, #2 in Countries with the highest share of overweight children under 5 and #2 in Countries with the highest tuberculosis incidence.

Where do the numbers come from?

From Our World in Data and World Bank Open Data. Each ranking page names its source, metric definition and capture date.

When was this guide last updated?

The newest snapshot used here was captured on 2026-11-02. The guide is regenerated automatically as rankings refresh.

Live table and history →

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