Papua New Guinea - Languages

Under the Australian administration of the former Territory of Papua and New Guinea, English became the official language; however, it is only spoken by 1–2% of the population. More widely spoken, there are now two other official languages: Pidgin, a Melanesian lingua franca with roots primarily in English and German, and Hiri Motu, another lingua franca of Papuan derivation. In all, there are more than 700 indigenous languages, most of them spoken by a few hundred to a few thousand people.