Where do most Papuan language speakers live in Papua New Guinea?

Papuan language speakers in Papua New Guinea primarily reside in the country's interior regions. While Austronesian speakers generally inhabit the coastal areas and offshore islands, the majority of the population—who speak non-Austronesian or Papuan languages—are concentrated inland.1

Within these interior regions, significant populations are found in the Highlands, where major language groups such as the Engan, Melpa, and Kuman each have more than 100,000 speakers. Other notable concentrations of Papuan speakers are located in provinces such as Enga, Chimbu, Western Highlands, and the Eastern Highlands, as well as the mountainous regions near the border with Indonesia. Conversely, the lowland areas, particularly along the north coast and in the Sepik-Ramu basin, are characterized by high linguistic complexity with many smaller, distinct language families.12