The great majority of the country’s population lives in rural areas. Rural settlement patterns are extremely varied. The southern New Guinea plains are only sparsely populated by relatively mobile sago gatherers. The Highlands valleys are densely settled, whether in villages or scattered hamlets. The north coast and northeastern archipelagoes are generally well-populated, despite the hazards of volcanic eruptions, frequent earth tremors, and, rarely, tsunamis. The island of Karkar and the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain are centres of particularly dense population.

The small urban population lives for the most part in towns whose original location was determined either by access to a good harbour for early colonial planters or, in the interior, by the availability of level land sufficient for an airstrip. Despite the greatly diminished importance of plantations and the relocation of most of the airstrips out of the towns, those origins helped determine the existing urban layout. Port Moresby and Lae, on the Huon Gulf, are the largest cities.