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Updates: 

Wikipedia reports that two new provinces will be created in 2012; and that the capital of Bougainville may eventually move back to Arawa. The proposed provinces are Hela, consisting of Komo-Margarima, Koroba-Lake Kopiago, and Tari-Pori districts, and Jiwaka, containing Jimi, North Waghi, and part of Anglimp-South Waghi districts. Jiwaka is an acronym for Jimi, Waghi and Kambia.

I got the final figures for the 2000 census from source [1], and replaced the preliminary figures previously shown here.

Merry Law (no relation) sent a file containing the provincial abbreviations used by the PNG postal system.

FIPS PUB 10-4 is the U.S. Federal standard for administrative divisions of countries. Change 1 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated December 1, 1998. In Papua New Guinea, it notes the new name Bougainville. The ISO standard still calls it North Solomons.

Country overview: 

Short name	PAPUA NEW GUINEA
ISO code	PG
FIPS code	PP
Language	English (en)
Time zone	+10
Capital	Port Moresby

 

In 1900, the island of New Guinea was divided into a Dutch colony in the west, a German colony in the northeast, and a British protectorate in the southeast. In 1905-11, the Commonwealth of Australia took over the administration of British New Guinea. On 1906-09-01, British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua. German New Guinea was mandated to Great Britain by the League of Nations on 1920-12-17. On 1946-12-13, the mandate became a Trust Territory of Australia under the United Nations. The two territories were jointly administered beginning on 1949-07-01, under the name Papua New Guinea. They became a single independent country on 1975-09-16.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Papua Ny Guinea
2. Dutch: Papua Nieuw Guinea, Papoea-Nieuw-Guinea
3. Finnish: Papua-Uusi-Guinea
4. French: Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée f
5. German: Papua-Neuguinea n
6. Icelandic: Papúa
7. Italian: Papua Nuova Guinea f
8. Norwegian: Papua Ny-Guinea
9. Portuguese: Papua f -Nova Guiné f
10. Spanish: Papúa-Nueva Guinea, Estado m Independiente de Papúa Nueva Guinea f (formal)
11. Swedish: Papua Nya Guinea

Origin of name: 

Union of Papua and Australian New Guinea. Papua is Malay for frizzled, referring to natives' hair. The island of New Guinea was named by Spanish explorer Ortiz de Rez, from natives' resemblance to those of Guinea in Africa.

Primary subdivisions: 

Papua New Guinea is divided into eighteen provinces, one autonomous province, and one district.

Provinces	HASC	ISO	FIPS	PA	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Rgn
Bougainville	PG.NS	NSA	PP07	ABG	175,160	9,300	3,590	Buka	I
Central	PG.CE	CPM	PP01		183,983	29,500	11,390	Port Moresby	S
Chimbu	PG.CH	CPK	PP08	SIM	259,703	6,100	2,360	Kundiawa	H
Eastern Highlands	PG.EH	EHG	PP09	EHP	432,972	11,200	4,320	Goroka	H
East New Britain	PG.EN	EBR	PP10	ENB	220,133	15,500	5,980	Rabaul	I
East Sepik	PG.ES	ESW	PP11	ESP	343,181	42,800	16,530	Wewak	M
Enga	PG.EG	EPW	PP19	ENG	295,031	12,800	4,940	Wabag	H
Gulf	PG.GU	GPK	PP02	GUF	106,898	34,500	13,320	Kerema	S
Madang	PG.MD	MPM	PP12	MDG	365,106	29,000	11,200	Madang	M
Manus	PG.MN	MRL	PP13	MAS	43,387	2,100	810	Lorengau	I
Milne Bay	PG.MB	MBA	PP03	MBP	210,412	14,000	5,410	Alotau	S
Morobe	PG.MR	MPL	PP14	MOP	539,404	34,500	13,320	Lae	M
National Capital District	PG.NC	NCD	PP20	NCD	254,158	240	90	Port Moresby	S
New Ireland	PG.NI	NIK	PP15	NIP	118,350	9,600	3,710	Kavieng	I
Northern	PG.NO	NPP	PP04	ORO	133,065	22,800	8,800	Popondetta	S
Sandaun	PG.SA	SAN	PP18	SDN	185,741	36,300	14,020	Vanimo	M
Southern Highlands	PG.SH	SHM	PP05	SHP	546,265	23,800	9,190	Mendi	H
Western	PG.WE	WPD	PP06	WSP	153,304	99,300	38,340	Daru	S
Western Highlands	PG.WH	WHM	PP16	WHP	440,025	8,500	3,280	Mount Hagen	H
West New Britain	PG.WN	WBK	PP17	WNB	184,508	21,000	8,110	Kimbe	I
20 divisions					5,190,786	462,840	178,710
Provinces: Bougainville is an autonomous province; National Capital District is a district. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO standard 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "PG-" to the code (ex: PG-SAN represents Sandaun). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. PA: Abbreviations used by the postal system. Population: 2000-07-09 census (source [1]). Rgn: Region (H=Highlands, I=Islands, M=Momase, S=Southern).

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Papua New Guinea page.

Source [4] says that the provinces are grouped into four regions: Highlands, Islands, Momase, and Southern, with four to six provinces in each region. The provinces are also subdivided into 87 districts.

Territorial extent: 

1. Papua New Guinea shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia. Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Northern, Sandaun, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands provinces and the National Capital District are almost entirely on New Guinea. For each of the other provinces, I have listed the main islands it occupies, roughly in descending order of size.
2. Bougainville: Bougainville, Buka, Green Islands (Nissan, Pinipel)
3. Central: New Guinea, Yule
4. East New Britain: New Britain, Duke of York, Watom
5. East Sepik: New Guinea, Kairiru, Mushu, Vokeo, Walis, Blup Blup
6. Gulf: New Guinea, Morigio
7. Madang: New Guinea, Long, Karkar, Manam, Bagbag
8. Manus: Admiralty Islands (Manus, Rambutyo, Lou, etc.), Ninigo Islands, Hermit Islands, etc.
9. Milne Bay: New Guinea, D'Entrecasteaux Islands (Fergusson, Normanby, Goodenough), Louisiade Archipelago (Sudest or Tagula, Yela or Rossel, Misima, Panatinane), Marshall Bennett Islands (Woodlark, Madau), Trobriand Islands (Kiriwina, Kaduaga), Engineer Group (Sideia, Basilaki)
10. Morobe: New Guinea, Umbo, Sakar, Tolokiwa
11. New Ireland: New Ireland, New Hanover, Saint Matthias Group (Mussau, Emirau), Tabar Group (Tabar, Tatau, Simberi), Lihir Group (Lihir), Tanga Group (Malendok, Boang), Feni Islands (Ambitle, Babase)
12. Western: New Guinea, Kiwai, Purutu, Wabuda, Naviu, and other islands in the deltas of the Fly and Bumu Rivers
13. West New Britain: New Britain, Lolobau, Witu Islands (Garove, Unea)

Origins of names: 

1. Bougainville: named for French explorer Louis Antoine, Count of Bougainville
2. Sandaun: tok pisin (pidgin) for "sundown": located towards the sundown from the rest of PNG.

Change history: 

1. As of 1900, the island of New Guinea was divided into a Dutch colony in the west, a German colony in the northeast, and a British protectorate in the southeast.
2. 1904: Bougainville and Buka Islands transferred from British Solomon Islands to German New Guinea.
3. 1905-11: The Commonwealth of Australia took over the administration of British New Guinea.
4. 1906-09-01: Name of British New Guinea changed to Territory of Papua.
5. 1920-12-17: German New Guinea mandated to Great Britain by the League of Nations.
6. 1946-12-13: British mandate became an Australian trust territory under the United Nations.
7. 1949-07-01: Territories of New Guinea and Papua merged administratively under the name Papua New Guinea.
8. 1950-03-01: Umbo, Sakar, and Tolokiwa Islands transferred from New Britain district to Morobe district; East Central district merged with Central; Eastern and South Eastern districts merged to form Milne Bay.
9. 1950-11-20: Name of Kieta district changed to Bougainville.
10. 1951-01-21: Mount Lamington erupted, destroying Higaturu, then the capital of Northern province. Capital moved to Popondetta.
11. 1951-09-06: Status of the units of Papua changed from divisions to districts. The districts were divided into subdistricts. Central Highlands split up to form the new districts of Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands, with other parts annexed to Sepik, Western, and Madang; Delta district merged with Gulf. Note: Central Highlands district had straddled the border between Papua and New Guinea territories. After this reorganization, each district was entirely within one or the other. At this time, the subdivisions were as follows:

District	Part	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Bougainville	NG	48,990	10,570	4,080
Central	P	86,588	29,940	11,560
Eastern Highlands	NG	300,234	17,090	6,600
Gulf	P	60,998	46,620	18,000
Madang	NG	116,611	27,970	10,800
Manus	NG	15,014	2,070	800
Milne Bay	P	82,918	18,130	7,000
Morobe	NG	189,410	33,670	13,000
New Britain	NG	87,892	36,650	14,150
New Ireland	NG	34,584	9,890	3,820
Northern	P	45,588	24,040	9,280
Sepik	NG	220,308	78,090	30,150
Southern Highlands	P	169,968	17,350	6,700
Western	P	48,317	98,420	38,000
Western Highlands	NG	182,264	24,860	9,600
Totals		1,689,684	475,360	183,540
Source: Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition. Part: New Guinea (NG) or Papua (P). Population: 1954 census.

1. 1966-06-21: Chimbu district formed from parts of Eastern Highlands, Gulf, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands; Sepik split into East Sepik and West Sepik; New Britain split into East New Britain and West New Britain.
2. 1968: Capital of Milne Bay moved from Samarai to Alotau.
3. 1971-07-02: Official name of country changed from Territory of Papua and New Guinea to Papua New Guinea.
4. 1973: Enga province formed from parts of Southern Highlands and Western Highlands.
5. 1974: National Capital district split from Central province.
6. 1975-09-16: Papua New Guinea became independent. Status of the subdivisions changed from districts to provinces.
7. 1975: Name of Bougainville province changed to North Solomons.
8. ~1978: Capital of North Solomons moved from Sohano to Arawa.
9. ~1989: Name of West Sepik province changed to Sandaun.
10. 1996: Name of North Solomons province changed to Bougainville.
11. ~1997: Capital of Bougainville moved from Arawa to Buka.
12. 2001-08-29: Bougainville Peace Agreement signed, providing for the autonomy of Bougainville and a referendum on independence to be held in the future. Bougainville bills were passed by Papua New Guinea parliament on 2002-03-27.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bougainville: Bougainville (obsolete)
2. Chimbu: Simbu (variant)
3. Eastern Highlands: Planalto Oriental (Portuguese)
4. East New Britain: Nova Bretanha Oriental (Portuguese); Nuova Britannia Orientale (Italian)
5. New Ireland: Neuirland (German); Nouvelle-Irlande (French); Nova Irlanda (Portuguese); Nuova Irlanda (Italian)
6. Northern: Oro (variant)
7. Sandaun: West Sepik (obsolete)
8. Western: Fly, Fly River (variant)
9. Western Highlands: Planalto Ocidental (Portuguese)
10. West New Britain: Nova Bretanha Ocidental (Portuguese); Nuova Britannia Occidentale (Italian)

Population history:

Province	1980-09-22	1990-07-09	2000-07-09
Bougainville	128,794	154,000	175,160
Central	116,964	141,195	183,983
Chimbu	178,290	183,849	259,703
Eastern Highlands	276,726	300,648	432,972
East New Britain	133,197	185,459	220,133
East Sepik	221,890	254,371	343,181
Enga	164,534	235,561	295,031
Gulf	64,120	68,737	106,898
Madang	211,069	253,195	365,106
Manus	26,036	32,840	43,387
Milne Bay	127,975	158,780	210,412
Morobe	310,622	380,117	539,404
National Capital District	123,624	195,570	254,158
New Ireland	66,028	86,999	118,350
Northern	77,442	96,491	133,065
West Sepik	114,192	139,917	185,741
Southern Highlands	236,052	317,437	546,265
Western	78,575	110,420	153,304
Western Highlands	265,656	336,178	440,025
West New Britain	88,941	130,190	184,508
20 provinces	3,010,727	3,761,954	5,190,786

 

In Islands region, 1990 population figures are estimates.

Sources:

1. [1] Turner, Barry, ed. "The Statesman's Yearbook 2006". Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
2. [2] King, David, and Stephen Ranck, eds. "Papua New Guinea Atlas: A Nation in Transition". University of Papua New Guinea, 1982.
3. [3] Ward, R. Gerard, and David A.M. Lea, "An Atlas of Papua and New Guinea". Department of Geography, University of Papua New Guinea, 1970.
4. [4] Papua New Guinea Business Directory  has a page with "2000 census preliminary figures" by province, attributed to the National Statistical Office of Papua New Guinea (retrieved 2005). I originally used those figures for 2000 populations.
5. [5] Pacific Island Travel  website has a page for each province, giving populations (as of an unspecified date), areas, capitals, and division into districts (retrieved 2010-01-13).