The population of Papua province has a fertility rate of 2.9 children per woman[citation needed] The population grew from the 1.9 million recorded in the 2000 Indonesia Census, to 2.9 million as recorded by the 2010 Census,[12] and is officially estimated to be at about 3.5 million in 2014. Since the early 1990s Papua has had the highest population growth rate of all Indonesian provinces at over 3% annually.[citation needed] This is partly a result of birth rates, but mainly due to migration from other parts of Indonesia.[citation needed] While indigenous Papuans formed the near-totality of the population in 1961, they are now roughly 50% of the population,[citation needed] the other half being composed of non-Papuan migrants coming from other parts of Indonesia. An overwhelming percentage of these migrants came as part of a government-sponsored transmigration program.[citation needed]
According to the 2010 census, 83.15% of the Papuans identified themselves as Christian with 65.48% being Protestant and 17.67% being Roman Catholic. 15.89% of the population was Muslim and less than 1% were Buddhist or Hindu.[13] There is also substantial practice of animism by Papuans.
The densest population center, other than the large coastal cities that house Indonesian bureaucratic and commercial apparatus, is located in and around the town of Wamena in the Baliem Valley of the Central Highlands.[citation needed]