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East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste,
is a country in Southeast Asia comprising the eastern half of the island of
Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave
on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The
small country of 5,376 square miles (14,609 square kilometres) is located
about 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Darwin, Australia.The name Timor
derives from timor or timur, the word for 'east' in Malay as well as
Indonesian, which became Timor in Portuguese. The Portuguese name Timor-Leste
(pron. IPA: [ti'moɾ 'lɛʃtɨ]) and the Tetum name Timor Lorosa'e are sometimes
used in English. Lorosa'e (the word for 'east' in Tetum) literally means
'rising sun'.East Timor has the lowest per capita GDP (Purchasing Power
Parity adjusted) in the world, of only $400 (which corresponds to the 192nd
position). However, on its Human Development Index, or HDI, it is in 142nd
place among the world's nations, which corresponds to medium human
development. |
