Freedom Score in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Freedom Score was 61 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Freedom Score in Papua New Guinea, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Papua New Guinea recorded 61 for freedom score in 2025.
The figure is up 3.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, freedom score in Papua New Guinea peaked at 74 in 2002 and was at its lowest, 59, in 2008.
That places Papua New Guinea 101st out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Freedom Score in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 74 | — |
| 2003 | 71 | -4.1% |
| 2004 | 64 | -9.9% |
| 2005 | 64 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 62 | -3.1% |
| 2007 | 60 | -3.2% |
| 2008 | 59 | -1.7% |
| 2009 | 59 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 59 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 59 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 59 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 60 | +1.7% |
| 2014 | 59 | -1.7% |
| 2015 | 59 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 64 | +8.5% |
| 2017 | 63 | -1.6% |
| 2018 | 64 | +1.6% |
| 2019 | 62 | -3.1% |
| 2020 | 62 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 62 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 61 | -1.6% |
| 2023 | 61 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 61 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 61 | +0.0% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 61 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 41, 1.5× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 61 is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 73, 84% of the median. (31 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 64.12 | 59 | 74 | 8 |
| 2010s | 60.8 | 59 | 64 | 10 |
| 2020s | 61.33 | 61 | 62 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
More social development data for Papua New Guinea
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 7,727 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 644 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 4 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 644 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0007 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is freedom score in Papua New Guinea?
- Freedom score in Papua New Guinea was 61 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest freedom score recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 74 in 2002.
- What is the lowest freedom score recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 59 in 2008.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for freedom score?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 101st out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is freedom score rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
- The figures come from Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Freedom Score. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Freedom House’s freedom score captures the extent of free and fair elections, political pluralism and participation, a functioning government, freedom of expression and association, the rule of law, and personal autonomy. Higher scores indicate more freedom.