Income in Papua New Guinea
The median income in Papua New Guinea was about $2.63 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars), at that survey — richer than 10% of everyone alive. Half of Papua New Guinea lived on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 8% of Papua New Guinea.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in PGK at 2021 prices (the 2009 survey, carried forward), at each point on the curve of Papua New Guinea (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 1,065 | $0.89 |
| 25% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 1,840 | $1.54 |
| 50% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 3,146 | $2.63 |
| 75% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 5,165 | $4.31 |
| 90% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 8,107 | $6.77 |
| 99% of Papua New Guinea | PGK 22,051 | $18 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Papua New Guinea
How much of Papua New Guinea and of the world lived on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Papua New Guinea | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 57% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 37% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 6% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | <1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayPapua New Guinea 57% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayPapua New Guinea 37% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayPapua New Guinea 6% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayPapua New Guinea <1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 57% of Papua New Guinea lived on Level 1, under $3.00 a day per person; worldwide, roughly one in seven people do.
The line that moved
In Papua New Guinea, 63% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1996 survey; 52% at the 2009 one — a fall of 10 points in 13 years.
Share of Papua New Guinea under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Papua New Guinea (survey year 2009), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Papua New Guinea's — and a few far from it, for scale.