Poverty persists across PNG and Pacific despite economic growth

RNZ News

04-05-2025

The World Bank report says PNG has some of the poorest nutrition outcomes in the world. (file image)
Photo:
RNZ Pacific / Johnny Blades
About half of Papua New Guinea's population lives on less than US$3.65 a day, and there has been little change in monetary well being since a 2010 survey, according to the World Bank.
The report said the country has some of the poorest nutrition outcomes in the world, with almost half of children under the age of five being stunted.
In 2022, only 19 percent of the population had access to safe drinking water, and 15 percent to electricity. A quarter of the youth were not in training, education, and employment.
Save the Children's Pacific regional director Kim Koch said economic growth does not necessarily equate to people being lifted out of poverty.
"Unfortunately, a lot of times, the investments in that economic growth is not always directed toward breaking poverty or addressing the safety nets that the most vulnerable families and children really need," Koch said.
The report said since gaining independent in 1975, the economy has more than tripled. However, real GDP per capita has only seen an annual increase of 0.9 percent.
"The most recent Household Income and Expenditure Survey, from 2010, revealed that 40 percent of the population lived below the national poverty line of US$2.15 per day.
"Despite the lack of an official poverty rate since 2010, household surveys suggest little change in monetary wellbeing," it said.
Koch said poverty is driving food insecurity and violence.
"Those consequences are intergenerational," she said.
"It is hard to break the cycle of poverty unless you have specific, dedicated investments in that purpose."
She said it is often children's education, safety, and health that suffer.
"That is usually because families are investing in just their basic needs, and things like sending their kids to school, having a nutritious diet, seeking medical care are often lower on the priority list."
The report also said Fiji is struggling to raise its living standards to match its income level. The nation achieved upper-middle-income status in 2014 but 50.1 percent of the population lived under US$6.85 a day in 2024.
However, extreme poverty - those living on less than US$2.15 a day - had almost been eliminated.
Poverty in Fiji - those living under US$6.85 a day - is on a downward trend. It was at 52.6 percent in 2019 and projected to be at 48.7 percent in 2025 and 45.5 percent in 2027, driven by economic growth which is expected to sit at 3.2 percent in 2027.
Fiji Council of Social Services executive director Vani Catanasiga said it is encouraging growth is increasing and poverty decreasing, but more could be done.
"We feel that there needs to be better effort at empowering women and youth, particularly when we look at the issues surrounding the labour force," she said.
In Solomon Islands, a phone survey by the World Bank in 2024 found about half of all households are worried about their finances.
The report said food insecurity remains high, with about half the population eating less than they thought they should in the past 30 days.
"According to the 2012/13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, 61 percent of the population was considered poor based on the lower-middle-income poverty line (US$3.65 per day)," it said.
However, the economy is expected to grow by an average of 2.7 percent from 2025 to 2027 and poverty rates are projected to decline as a result.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.