Papua New Guinea is located on the island of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. That island is the second largest island on earth after Greenland. The territory of Papua New Guinea includes the entire eastern side of the island and shares it with West Papua which controls the western part of the island. New Guinea also controls hundreds of other islands around the island of New Guinea. In addition to Australia to the south, Indonesia and Singapore to the west, there are many smaller neighboring islands in the surrounding area. As of July 2013, the population of Papua New Guinea is estimated at 6,431,902 people. The country has a very low average age of just 22 years. around 87% of the country's population lives in rural areas, and infrastructure such as roads is almost non-existent in many of these parts. Most of the country follows the Christianity introduced to the island in the 19th century by missionaries. Although Christianity reigns, much of the island's population still follows other, earlier religious traditions that originated on the island long before the introduction of Christianity. Papua New Guinea has an abundant amount of plant and animal life. It actually has one of the largest varieties of both in the world. According to the WWF, around 10% of the world's vertebrates are found on the island, and there are areas so remote deep in the rainforests that they have still never been fully explored. In 2009 alone, a few new species of frogs and plants were found along with two new mammals and about 100 new species of insects (treehugger.com). The country also has many natural resources such as oil, natural gas, gold, silver, copper and has a large amount of three......half of paper......unfortunately nowadays there is practically in every country. Rivers and other water sources are polluted by waste from mining, which is another big business for the island as it contains many minerals. The future of Papua New Guinea is difficult to predict. At many levels, relations with other countries regarding oil, gas and mineral trade are growing every year and are expected to grow, the country's population is facing some fundamental life problems. According to Global Policy TV, only 40% of the island's residents have access to clean and safe drinking water, only 19% have basic sanitation (globalpolicy.tv). The UN ranked Papua New Guinea at no. 156 in the world for quality of life. Something must be done about these latest problems for the country to move forward and come closer to the higher standards of many of its neighbors.