Papua New Guinea โข --:--:--
๐ Data last updated: May 20, 2026 โข โฑ๏ธ Counters calculate from this baseline
Important: These are model inputs, not a measured city age profile. Country-level birth, death and life-expectancy values are applied to the city baseline because city-level vital statistics are not available consistently for every location in this dataset.
The imported city population is the baseline observation used by this page. We do not present reconstructed historical city populations as observed facts because applying today's national birth/death rates backward would not account for migration, boundary changes or historical rate changes.
If current national birth and death rates stayed constant and migration were ignored, the model would produce 186,527 by 2030, 225,157 by 2040, and 271,786 by 2050. This is a scenario calculation, not an official forecast. It assumes constant rates and excludes migration, boundary changes, policy and economic shifts.
Lae is a medium-sized city located in Papua New Guinea. With an estimated population of 173,000 people, it represents a significant urban center within the country. The city operates in the Pacific/Bougainville time zone (UTC+11:00), placing it among the cities that share this temporal region.
Demographically, Lae has a growing natural-change estimate. With a birth rate of 26 and a death rate of 7 per 1,000 residents annually, the population is rapidly growing. The average life expectancy stands at 65.0 years, reflecting the overall health and living conditions in the region. The model estimates approximately 4,498 births and 1,211 deaths per year, resulting in a net change of 3,287 people per year.
The live counters on this page provide continuously updated estimates based on these annual rates, calculating births, deaths, and population changes from our baseline data date of 2026-05-20. These figures offer valuable insights into the demographic dynamics of Lae and its position within Papua New Guinea's urban landscape.