Papua New Guinea has a population officially estimated at around 9.4 million people, but it actually could be twice that, according to a new U.N. study that the local government has tried to suppress.
The Southeast Asian country was supposed to undertake a census in 2021, but that has been pushed back to 2024 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country hasn’t done a census since 2011. The U.N. study used satellite imaging, housing data and surveys to compile its numbers.
The U.N. study was withheld from publication at the behest of the Papua New Guinea government, according to The Australian newspaper.