Social indicators and spatial disparities in Papua New Guinea

This study attempts to identify and classify the 87 districts of Papua New Guinea by their levels of development. With the aid of factor analysis applied to 30 elementary indicators, six major dimensions or features associated with development are uncovered. The factor scores of the more important features (education status, urbanization, nutrition status) are mapped. Various measures are used to compute the overall status of a district. Next cluster analysis is used to classify districts on the basis of their similarity on certain combinations of attributes. Comments are made on the agricultural and urban sectors in the context of Papua New Guinea's first 5-year National Development Plan. A set of possible planning regions comprising the less developed districts is suggested.