Demographics of Timor-Leste

This is a demography of the population of Timor-Leste including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Timor-Leste
Population pyramid of Timor-Leste in 2020
Population	1,445,006 (2022 est.)
Growth rate	2.15% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	30.94 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	5.61 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	69.92 years
• male	68.25 years
• female	71.7 years
Fertility rate	4.21 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	33.69 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-3.82 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	38.29%
15–64 years	56.38%
65 and over	5.33%
Sex ratio
Total	1 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.79 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Timorese

Population size and structure

Timor-Leste's population (1861-2011).

Population, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates

1,242,000 (2017)

Population census

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1970	609,477	—
1980	555,350	−0.93%
1990	747,557	+3.02%
2004	923,198	+1.52%
2010	1,066,409	+2.43%
2015	1,183,643	+2.11%
2022	1,341,737	+1.81%
Source: [1][2][3]

Age groups

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 11.VII.2015) ^[4]

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	601 112	582 531	1 183 643	100
0-4	77 896	72 410	150 306	12.70
5-9	80 377	75 705	156 082	13.19
10-14	80 721	75 548	156 269	13.20
15-19	69 839	67 033	136 872	11.56
20-24	52 759	54 244	107 003	9.04
25-29	45 486	47 464	92 950	7.85
30-34	35 934	36 461	72 395	6.12
35-39	24 245	24 645	48 890	4.13
40-44	29 097	26 779	55 876	4.72
45-49	25 044	22 274	47 318	4.00
50-54	18 661	16 776	35 437	2.99
55-59	14 436	12 867	27 303	2.31
60-64	13 864	14 516	28 380	2.40
65-69	14 611	16 427	31 038	2.62
70-74	8 949	9 204	18 153	1.53
75-79	4 862	5 009	9 961	0.84
80-84	2 399	2 798	5 197	0.44
85+	1 932	2 281	4 213	0.36
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	238 994	223 663	462 657	39.09
15-64	329 365	323 059	652 334	55.11
65+	32 753	35 809	68 562	5.79

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2018) (Data refer to national projections.): ^[5]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	642 639	618 768	1 261 407	100
0–4	86 042	78 681	164 723	13.06
5–9	84 950	76 259	161 209	12.78
10–14	82 088	75 015	157 103	12.45
15–19	75 602	71 942	147 544	11.70
20–24	60 513	60 703	121 216	9.61
25–29	46 777	50 239	97 016	7.69
30–34	40 344	42 718	83 062	6.58
35–39	28 909	30 013	58 922	4.67
40–44	24 228	23 965	48 193	3.82
45–49	27 718	25 146	52 864	4.19
50–54	21 620	19 325	40 945	3.25
55–59	16 674	15 419	32 093	2.54
60–64	14 583	14 712	29 295	2.32
65-69	11 764	12 441	24 205	1.92
70-74	9 187	9 388	18 575	1.47
75-79	6 452	6 789	13 241	1.05
80+	5 188	6 013	11 201	0.89
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	253 080	229 955	483 035	38.29
15–64	356 968	354 182	711 150	56.38
65+	32 591	34 631	67 222	5.33

Median age

In 2015 the median age 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 has the lowest median age with 17.3 years, while Dili Municipality has the highest median age with 21.2 years.^[6]

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Registration of vital events is in Timor-Leste not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Population estimates account for under numeration in population censuses.^[7]

	Mid-year population (thousands)	Live births (thousands)	Deaths (thousands)	Natural change (thousands)	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate (TFR)	Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)	Life expectancy (in years)
1950	415	18	15	3	43.4	35.9	7.5	6.61	274.2	29.05
1951	418	18	14	4	43.7	34.2	9.5	6.59	271.8	29.30
1952	423	19	14	4	43.9	33.4	10.5	6.56	268.5	29.62
1953	427	19	14	5	44.2	32.9	11.2	6.54	265.8	29.89
1954	432	19	14	5	44.4	32.5	11.9	6.51	262.8	30.20
1955	437	20	14	5	44.6	32.1	12.5	6.48	259.7	30.52
1956	443	20	14	6	44.8	31.8	13.0	6.45	256.7	30.83
1957	449	20	14	6	45.1	31.6	13.5	6.42	254.0	31.12
1958	455	21	14	6	45.3	31.3	14.0	6.39	251.3	31.40
1959	462	21	14	7	45.5	31.1	14.4	6.36	248.6	31.70
1960	469	21	14	7	45.7	30.6	15.1	6.32	244.3	32.20
1961	476	22	14	7	45.7	30.2	15.5	6.27	241.1	32.57
1962	483	22	14	8	45.7	29.9	15.9	6.22	237.9	32.95
1963	491	22	15	8	45.6	29.5	16.1	6.16	235.4	33.26
1964	499	23	15	8	45.5	29.2	16.3	6.08	232.5	33.60
1965	507	23	14	9	45.2	28.3	16.9	6.01	226.4	34.36
1966	516	23	14	9	44.9	27.6	17.2	5.93	221.2	35.00
1967	525	23	14	9	44.5	26.9	17.6	5.86	215.3	35.73
1968	535	24	14	9	44.1	26.3	17.7	5.79	211.5	36.23
1969	544	24	14	10	43.6	25.8	17.8	5.72	207.8	36.71
1970	554	24	14	10	43.1	25.3	17.8	5.66	204.3	37.17
1971	564	24	14	10	42.4	24.6	17.7	5.58	200.2	37.72
1972	574	24	14	10	41.6	24.0	17.6	5.49	195.8	38.32
1973	584	24	14	10	40.7	23.2	17.5	5.39	190.7	38.99
1974	592	24	15	9	39.8	25.0	14.8	5.29	200.8	36.88
1975	600	23	24	− 0	39.1	39.8	−0.7	5.19	241.2	24.83
1976	610	23	23	0	38.3	37.9	0.4	5.12	229.8	25.96
1977	619	23	24	−1	37.9	39.9	−2.0	5.09	242.6	24.43
1978	628	24	27	− 4	37.9	43.8	−5.9	5.09	266.9	21.84
1979	635	24	27	− 2	38.3	42.3	−3.9	5.14	258.8	22.53
1980	642	25	21	3	39.0	33.6	5.4	5.22	203.3	28.45
1981	649	27	21	6	41.3	32.5	8.8	5.53	193.5	29.57
1982	655	27	21	7	41.6	31.3	10.3	5.56	183.4	30.82
1983	662	28	20	7	41.9	30.6	11.3	5.59	177.0	31.64
1984	671	28	19	9	42.2	28.4	13.7	5.61	161.5	33.75
1985	682	29	19	9	42.4	28.5	13.9	5.65	161.4	33.80
1986	694	29	19	10	42.5	28.1	14.5	5.67	157.4	34.34
1987	708	30	19	11	42.5	26.7	15.7	5.68	148.7	35.64
1988	723	31	19	11	42.5	26.6	15.8	5.72	148.4	35.75
1989	740	31	14	17	42.3	19.1	23.3	5.76	144.4	44.55
1990	758	32	14	18	42.2	18.7	23.5	5.81	142.6	44.95
1991	773	32	14	18	41.8	18.4	23.3	5.84	140.8	44.99
1992	784	33	14	19	41.6	17.5	24.1	5.87	134.2	46.28
1993	795	33	13	20	41.2	16.8	24.4	5.88	128.5	47.25
1994	807	33	13	20	40.9	16.1	24.8	5.91	123.6	48.25
1995	819	33	13	20	40.6	16.3	24.3	5.94	123.5	48.02
1996	831	34	13	20	40.2	15.8	24.4	5.94	118.7	48.82
1997	843	34	13	21	39.9	15.4	24.5	5.96	114.2	49.52
1998	855	34	13	21	39.6	15.7	23.9	5.96	115.1	49.12
1999	867	34	16	19	39.4	18.0	21.4	5.97	118.0	45.70
2000	878	35	9	26	39.1	10.2	28.9	5.98	77.0	58.57
2001	893	35	9	26	39.1	9.9	29.2	6.01	73.3	59.36
2002	910	36	9	27	39.0	9.6	29.4	6.02	69.7	60.15
2003	927	36	9	27	38.3	9.3	29.0	5.95	66.5	60.87
2004	946	36	9	27	37.6	9.1	28.5	5.85	63.1	61.63
2005	969	35	9	27	36.5	8.8	27.7	5.71	59.8	62.33
2006	995	35	8	27	35.4	8.5	26.9	5.56	56.7	63.07
2007	1 019	35	8	26	34.2	8.3	25.9	5.40	53.9	63.72
2008	1 043	35	8	26	33.2	8.1	25.1	5.23	51.4	64.33
2009	1 066	35	9	26	32.3	8.0	24.3	5.04	49.2	64.85
2010	1 088	34	9	26	31.4	8.0	23.4	4.82	47.3	65.30
2011	1 113	34	9	25	30.7	7.9	22.8	4.61	45.7	65.70
2012	1 138	34	9	25	29.8	7.7	22.1	4.40	44.1	66.08
2013	1 162	34	9	25	29.1	7.6	21.5	4.21	42.6	66.44
2014	1 185	34	9	25	28.4	7.6	20.9	4.00	41.2	66.79
2015	1 206	33	9	24	27.7	7.5	20.2	3.78	39.8	67.14
2016	1 225	33	9	24	27.0	7.3	19.7	3.58	38.5	67.45
2017	1 243	33	9	24	26.5	7.2	19.3	3.40	37.3	67.75
2018	1 262	33	9	24	25.9	7.0	18.9	3.24	36.2	68.02
2019	1 280	33	9	24	25.5	6.9	18.6	3.12	35.2	68.27
2020	1 300	33	9	24	25.3	6.8	18.4	3.01	34.2	68.48
2021	1 321	33	10	23	24.9	7.2	17.7	2.89	33.4	67.74
2022								2.80
2023								2.71
2024								2.63
2024								2.56

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):^[8]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2003	52.1	7.8	50.5	7.4
2009–2010	33.2	5.7 (5.1)	33.1	4.9 (4.2)	33.2	6.0 (5.4)
2016	26.8	4.2 (3.5)	28.4	3.5 (3.0)	26.2	4.6 (3.8)

Fertility rate by municipality

Aileu Municipality and Ainaro Municipality have the highest fertility rate with 5.5 children per woman, followed by Ermera Municipality with 5.4 children per woman.^[9]

Municipality	Fertility rate in 2004	Fertility rate in 2010	Fertility rate in 2015	Decline between 2004 and 2015
Dili	6.7	5.3	3.9	2.8
Liquiçá	7.1	6.2	5.1	2.0
Covalima	7.0	5.6	4.7	2.3
Manufahi	7.3	5.6	4.9	2.4
Manatuto	6.7	5.6	4.6	2.1
Aileu	8.4	7.0	5.5	3.0
Lautém	7.7	6.4	5.2	2.5
Bobonaro	6.9	5.9	4.7	2.2
Baucau	6.9	5.8	4.7	2.2
Viqueque	6.3	5.3	4.6	1.7
Ermera	8.2	6.9	5.4	2.8
Ainaro	8.3	6.4	5.5	2.8
Oecusse (SAR)	6.9	5.2	4.2	2.7
Timor-Leste	7.2	5.9	4.7	2.5

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 Dili Municipality to only 15.1% of all births in Ermera Municipality.

Life expectancy at birth

Average life expectancy at age 0 of the total population.^[10]

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	30.0	1985–1990	46.5
1955–1960	32.5	1990–1995	50.5
1960–1965	35.0	1995–2000	57.0
1965–1970	37.5	2000–2005	61.5
1970–1975	40.0	2005–2010	66.4
1975–1980	31.2	2010–2015	67.7
1980–1985	39.9

Ethnic groups

An East Timorese man partially dressed in traditional clothing

Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian), Papuan, small Chinese particularly Cantonese people and Europeans particularly Portuguese people descent.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Timor-Leste

Roman Catholic 97.6% (2015 est.)

Protestant/Evangelical 2% (2015 est.)

Islam 0.2% (2015 est.)

Other 0.2% (2015 est.)

Languages

Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), 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.