English Version

Tetum Version

Conducting the 2004 Population and Housing Census of Timor-Leste was a huge financial, logistical and human effort, but the benefits it will yield will be much larger than the effort made. Collecting and compiling reliable socioeconomic and demographic data for the whole country was essential for Timor-Leste because, during and after the independence struggle, substantial transformations in the characteristics of the population took place. Data that was available previously quickly became outdated and inaccurate and would have been misleading for planning in a new country.

The publication is a good example of how we are putting the results of the census to the work. It presents the complexities of our society clearly and simply and it makes multifaceted and sometimes controversial patterns and trends understandable to a broad audience.

Improving public health conditions constitutes a critical area for the development of Timor-Leste. Gradually, in collaboration with international and national organizations, the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Timor-Leste has taken essential steps towards improving the health of the Timorese through the construction of health facilities, the introduction of a basic health care package, and the formulation and implementation of health promotion policies and interventions to improve public health indicators.

As part of its activities in disseminating the 2004 Census of Population and Housing, the National Statistics Directorate (NSD) has produced four publications to date. The fi rst, being a book of the national priority tables, containing what is considered by the specialized agencies of the United Nations as the most relevant to be constructed after the census data is processed. The second, being a booklet containing selected demographic indicators calculated with census data, graphs and maps. The third, a poster displaying basic population and demographic information; and the fourth publication, the Census Atlas, a collection of selected thematic maps and tables on population characteristics of Timor-Leste. The next obvious and fifth product is a set of books on priority tables at the district level. Among these books it was decided to include priority tables for the urban-rural disaggregation.