Where is East Timor?
About East Timor
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media
Back to the Flags of Asia page
East Timor is a small country on the eastern half of the island of Timor plus a small area on the northern coast of the western part of the island.
East Timor has a border on the Timor Sea to the south and the Banda Sea to the north.
The land is mainly mountains.
The geographical coordinates for the centre of East Timor, also known as lines of latitude and longtitude, are:-
Latitude - 8 50S
Longitude - 125 55E
Back to the top
Check the weather in Dili now.
This is the time in Dili now
The East Timorese flag is red with a black isosceles
triangle, containing a white star, on the flag pole side. A yellow arrowhead extends from the triangle to the centre of the flag. The white star symbolises peace
and acts as a guiding light.
The capital of East Timor is Dili.
East Timor is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.
In elections everyone over the age of 17 can vote.
The currency in East Timor is the US dollar.
Tetun and Portuguese are the official languages.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
East Timor is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.
In elections everyone over the age of 17 can vote.
The currency in East Timor is the US dollar.
Tetun and Portuguese are the official languages.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in East Timor to provide us with a detailed history of
their own country. Check how here.
Back to the top
The total land area of East Timor is 14,874 sq kms which is the 42nd largest in Asia.
East Timor has no lakes, rivers or canals.
East Timor has a boundary with 1 country
- Indonesia 253 kms
East Timor has a coastline of 706 kms which is the 22nd longest in Asia.
The highest point in East Timor is Foho Tatanailau at 2,963 metres.
The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.
Back to the top
The total population of East Timor is 1,29 million people, making it the 45th largest country in Asia by population.
Of this number 0.64 million are females and 0.65 million are males.
A person from East Timor is called a East Timorese.
To be a citizen of East Timor, one of your parents must be a citizen of East Timor. It is not sufficient to be born in East Timor. You have to live in East Timor for
10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.
The largest five cities in East Timor, by population are:-
- Dill 150,000 people
- Same 25,000
- Maliana 22,000
- Suai 21,539
- Liquica 19,000
For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
32.8% of the people live in cities or towns.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
32.8% of the people live in cities or towns.
Back to the top
The birth rate in East Timor is 33.8 births per 1,000 of population
The death rate in East Timor is 6.0 deaths per 1,000 people.
Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then
the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.
There are 32.1 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 37.9 deaths of boys.
The median age for females is 19.6 and for males is 18.3. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number
of people above the median age as below it.
The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 22.1.
The elderly dependency ratio is 6.6. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).
The potential support ratio is 15.2. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.
Back to the top
East Timor spends 1.5% of its total income on health care.
There are 0.70 doctors per 1,000 people.
There are 5.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
3.8% of the population are estimated as obese.
95.2% of the urban population and 60.5% of the rural population of East Timor have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or
protected rainwater collection facility.
69.0% of the urban population and 26.8% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer. a pit latrine (that is a
permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.
We have no figures for the production of electricity in East timor.
East Timor releases 0.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 49th highest in Asia.
Back to the top
East Timor spends 7.9% of its total income on education.
Children usually start school at age 6 in East Timor. Primary education is for six years until age 12 and secondary education can continue till 18. We have
not yet found out how many of these years are compulsory.
Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the second week of January and finishes in the middle of December. There is usually a 12 week
break at the end of March and a 10 week break between the middle of Jun and the beginning of September.
63.4% of females and 71.5% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.
21.8% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 16.7% are unemployed while with males 21.5% can't find work.
The total number of people available for work in East Timor is 286,700.
They work in the following sectors.
- Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
- Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
- Services is everything else
Back to the top
There are 2 paved airports in East Timor, which is the 49th highest number in Asia.
There are no railways in East Timor.
There are 2,600 kilometres of roads in East Timor, which means East Timor is in 45th place for the most kilometres of roads in Asia.
There are 2 major national newspapers in East Timor.
There are 1.49 million mobile phone users.
1% of the people have a fixed landline.
318,373 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).
Back to the top
