Distillers Country guides / Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste
A one-page guide to Timor-Leste for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Dili
- Official languages
- Portuguese, Tetum
- Currency
- United States dollar (USD)
- Time zone
- UTC+9
- Area
- 15,007 km²
People
- Population
- 1.4 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 1.3% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 28.8%
- Aged under 15
- 33.1%
- Aged 65 and over
- 5.2%
- Life expectancy
- 67.9 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$2.1 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$1,464 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 4.5% (2025)
- Inflation
- 0.5% (2025)
Climate
Tropical with stable temperatures through the year; the mountainous interior is cooler than the coast. The rainy season runs December-May (roughly 222-252 mm a month) and the dry season sees only 12-18 mm a month.
Alcohol
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 0.1 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Timor-Leste (basics, climate); IMF DataMapper WEO (GDP, population, growth, inflation; retrieved 26 Oct 2026); UN Comtrade (HS 2208); WHO Global Health Observatory; Wikipedia - Legal drinking age. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.