Inequalities between urban and rural Timor-Leste
have been a persistent feature of the landscape
from colonial times. They reflect the political and
economic dynamics between urban centres of
power and financial influence, especially in Dili,
and the scattered, impoverished hinterland where
near subsistence agriculture and limited state
services prevail.
These inequalities can be measured in statistical
terms. In 2012, the population of Timor-Leste stood
at 1,154,625, and 70.4 per cent of citizens were
classed as rural dwellers. They include a majority of
the vulnerable 50 per cent of the population living
on less than US$2 per day. By contrast, 92.2 per
cent of urbanites in Dili occupy the highest wealth
quintiles.1
Similarly, some 91 per cent of urbanites
enjoy safe drinking water, while just 57 per cent
or rural dwellers receive a similar level of service.
Rural areas have high rates of child mortality
(136/1000 by 5 years) and lower literacy levels
(58.7 per cent >15 years). Children in urban areas
are almost four times more likely to be enrolled at
secondary school than their peers in rural areas.2
In recent years, funding efforts by the national
government to improve living standards beyond the
urban concentrations have had positive impacts.
New schools and well-stocked village health clinics,
the expansion of social payments to pensioners
and veterans, and village labour projects have
made substantial contributions to improving rural
household wellbeing. But inequalities persist, and
one visible response to endemic rural poverty
has been a sustained rural–urban drift from the
remote hinterlands to the buzz and bright lights of
the city, especially to Dili, and especially by young
people. Some move in search of better education.
Others respond to the lack of rural employment
opportunities3
and the drudgery of subsistence
agriculture, embracing their youthful desires to
engage and consume modernity. The migratory
trend can be seen in the 33 per cent increase in the
Dili population (58,296) since 2004 — a figure that
represents 40 per cent of the overall population
increase of Timor-Leste over that period.
Once resident however, youthful aspirants
face endemic high youth unemployment and
strong competition for limited jobs. The resulting
disaffection and under-employment breeds political
discontent and a looming challenge for government
and the nation as a whole.