This is a

demography Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

of the

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

including

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population size and structure

1,242,000 (2017)

Age groups

Median age

In 2015 the

median age A population pyramid (age structure diagram) or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population (typically that of a country or region of the world) by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid ...

of the population was 19.6 years old. The population living in rural areas is slightly younger (19.0) compared to the population living in urban areas (20.6).

Ainaro Municipality Ainaro (, ) is one of 13 municipalities of East Timor, municipalities of East Timor, in the southwest part of the country. It has a population of 59,175 (census 2010) and an area of 804 km2. Its capital is the city of Ainaro, a small mou ...

has the lowest median age with 17.3 years, while

Dili Municipality Dili Municipality (, ) is one of the 14 Municipalities of East Timor, municipalities, formerly districts, of Timor-Leste, and includes the national capital Dili. The municipality had a population of 277,279 , most of whom live in the capital ...

has the highest median age with 21.2 years.

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Registration of vital events is in Timor-Leste not complete. The Population Department of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

prepared the following estimates. Population estimates account for under numeration in population censuses.

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

Fertility rate by municipality

Aileu Municipality Aileu (, ) is a municipality, and was formerly a district, of East Timor. It has a population of 48,554 (Census 2015) and an area of 737 km2. The municipality's capital is also named Aileu. Its administrative posts are Aileu, Laulara ...

and

have the highest fertility rate with 5.5 children per woman, followed by

Ermera Municipality Ermera (, ) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, located in the west-central part of the country. It has a population of 117,064 (Census 2010) and an area of 756.5 km2. Etymology The word ''Ermera'' means 'r ...

with 5.4 children per woman. Between 2014/15, around 43.5% of the births occurred in a health facility, up from 36.3% in 2010/11. This percentage varies widely from 77.5% in

to only 15.1% of all births in

Life expectancy at birth

Average

life expectancy Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...

at age 0 of the total population.

Ethnic groups

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Sout ...

(Malayo-Polynesian), Papuan, small

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

particularly

Cantonese people The Cantonese people ( zh, s=广府人, t=廣府人, j=gwong2 fu2 jan4, cy=Gwóngfú Yàhn, first=t, labels=no) or Yue people ( zh, s=粤人, t=粵人, j=jyut6 jan4, cy=Yuht Yàhn, first=t, labels=no), are a Han Chinese subgroup originating fro ...

and

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...

particularly

Portuguese people The Portuguese people ( – masculine – or ''Portuguesas'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation Ethnic groups in Europe, indigenous to Portugal, a country that occupies the west side of the Iberian Peninsula in ...

descent.

Religion

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

97.6% (2015 est.) :

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

2% (2015 est.) :

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

0.2% (2015 est.) :Other 0.2% (2015 est.)

Languages

Tetum Tetum may refer to: * Tetum language, an Austronesian language ** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language * Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

(

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

), Portuguese (

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

(constitutionally defined as a 'working language') and English (constitutionally defined as a 'working language'). :''Note:'' There are a total of about 16 indigenous languages, of which Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people. The Tetum language is partially influenced by European languages, particularly Portuguese, a legacy of Portuguese rule.

References

External links

* {{Asia topic, Ethnic groups in Society of Timor-Leste de:Osttimor#Bevölkerung pt:Timor-Leste#Demografia