East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

continues to be one of the world's poorest countries, with GDP per capita standing at $3,949 (2011). It is ranked 147 out of 187 (2011) countries in the UN's

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, whi ...

. As of 2015, Timor-Leste had a population of 1.17 million and an annual growth rate at 1.8%. Based on the total population, 40.2% aged 15 years and above were employed.

Causes

As of 2011, 37.4% of civilians live below the

international poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

of $1.25 (in purchasing power parity terms) per day and 40% of the population is malnourished. Life expectancy at birth is 62.5 years. Existence of poor governance, coupled with lack of accountability and transparency are reasons why East Timor has been unable to break out from this poverty trap. In the 2010

Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...

, East Timor scored 2.5 (out of 10) and was ranked 127th out of 178 countries. "Without a clean and competent governmental institution to provide a stable business environment, East Timor has failed to attract much foreign direct investment (FDI) which would help to improve the unemployment and poverty situations", as stated by Dionisio Da Cruz Pereira, a former staff of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

group in East Timor.

Development Goals

When East Timor gained its independence in 2002, the government initiated a National Development plan (NDP), to work with international communities and aid agencies in its effort to reduce poverty and develop a sustainable economy aimed at improving the health, education and well-being of its people. This was aligned with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set for 2015. 10 years on, progress has only been minuscule and East Timor is still heavily dependent on

foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

. According to World Development Index, East Timor receives approximately US$185 million in aid per annum, which accounts for 33% of its gross national income.

Efforts to alleviate poverty

The Poverty Reduction Unit of UN supports the Government of East Timor in designing development strategies and programs aimed at developing the rural areas of the country, including building proper rural infrastructure. The government has also distributed tractors and seeds to rural farmers to boost agricultural production and provided affordable rice to communities both in urban and rural areas. It is also working to enhance banking literacy in rural areas by strengthening

microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

institutions through the development of pro-poor products and services. Furthermore, it has distributed scholarships to many East Timorese students to pursue

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

within and outside of East Timor.

References

{{Asia topic, Poverty in