Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

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

President: José Alexandre (Xanana) Gusmão (2002)

Prime Minister: José Ramos-Horta (2006)

Total area: 5,641 sq mi (14,609 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 1,062,777 (growth rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 27.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 45.9/1000; life expectancy: 66.3; density per sq mi: 188

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Dili, 50,800

Monetary unit: U.S. dollar

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

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

Literacy rate: 48% (2001)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $370 million; per capita $400. Real growth rate: 1%. Inflation: 1.8%. Unemployment: 50% 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: n.a. Internet users: n.a.

Transportation: Railways: total: 0 km. Highways: total: 3,800 km; paved: 428 km; unpaved: 3,372 km (1995). Waterways: n.a. Ports and harbors: n.a. Airports: 8 (2004 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.

 

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