Highland Papua

Highland Papua (Indonesian: Papua Pegunungan, lit. 'Papua Mountains') is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of the Papuan customary region of Lano Pago (often shortened to La Pago). It covers an area of 52,505.66 km (20,272.55 sq mi) and had a population of 1,484,870 according to the official estimates as at mid 2025 (comprising 791,070 males and 693,780 females), and increasing by about 17,000 residents per year.

Formally established on 25 July 2022 from the central and mountainous former part of the province of Papua, it is located on the central highlands of Western New Guinea, where it is the first and only landlocked province in Indonesia. The capital of Highland Papua is in Jayawijaya Regency, in Hubikosi District. The legal provision for the province's establishment was approved by the People's Representative Council on 30 June 2022, with the bill signed into Law No. 16/2022 by President Joko Widodo on 25 July, making it one of Indonesia's three then-youngest provinces alongside Central Papua and South Papua (which were subsequently joined by the even newer Southwest Papua Province). It borders Papua New Guinea to its east, South Papua to its south, Central Papua to its west (and southwest) and the residual Papua Province to its north.