East Timor

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More Facts & Figures

National name: Republika Demokratika Timor Lorosa'e/Republica Democratica de Timor-Leste

Current government officials

Languages: Tetum, Portuguese (official); Bahasa Indonesia, English; other indigenous languages, including Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak

Ethnicity/race: Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian), Papuan, small Chinese minority

National Holiday: Independence Day, November 28

Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, Islam 4%, Protestant 3%, Hindu 0.5%, Buddhist, animist (1992 est.)

Literacy rate: 58.6% (2002)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2009 est.): $2.74 billion; per capita $2,400. Real growth rate: 7.2%. Inflation: 1.4%. Unemployment: 20% estimated; note: unemployment in urban areas reached 20%; data do not include underemployed (2001 est.). Arable land: 5%. Agriculture: coffee, rice, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, soybeans, cabbage, mangoes, bananas, vanilla. Labor force: n.a. Industries: printing, soap manufacturing, handicrafts, woven cloth. Natural resources: gold, petroleum, natural gas, manganese, marble. Exports: $10 million; note: excludes oil (2005 est.): coffee, sandalwood, marble; note: potential for oil and vanilla exports. Imports: $202 million (2004 est.): food, gasoline, kerosene, machinery. Major trading partner: Indonesia (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: n.a.; mobile cellular: n.a.. Radio broadcast stations: n.a. Television broadcast stations: n.a. Internet hosts: 68 (2006) Internet users: 1000 (2004)

Transportation: Railways: total: 0 km. Highways: total: 5,000 km; paved: 2,500 km; unpaved: 2,500 km (2005). Waterways: n.a. Ports and harbors: n.a. Airports: 8 (2006 est.).

International disputes: UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) has maintained about a thousand peacekeepers in East Timor since 2002; East Timor-Indonesia Boundary Committee continues to meet, survey, and delimit the land boundary, but several sections of the boundary especially around the Oekussi enclave remain unresolved; Indonesia and East Timor contest the sovereignty of the uninhabited coral island of Palau Batek/Fatu Sinai, which prevents delimitation of the northern maritime boundaries; many of 28,000 East Timorese refugees still residing in Indonesia in 2003 have returned, but many continue to refuse repatriation; East Timor and Australia continue to meet but disagree over how to delimit a permanent maritime boundary and share unexploited potential petroleum resources that fall outside the Joint Petroleum Development Area covered by the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty; dispute with Australia also hampers creation of a southern maritime boundary with Indonesia.

Major sources and definitions