Income in Timor-Leste
The median income in Timor-Leste was about $2.90 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars), at that survey — richer than 12% of everyone alive. Half of Timor-Leste lived on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 4% of Timor-Leste.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in USD at 2021 prices (the 2014 survey, carried forward), at each point on the curve of Timor-Leste (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Timor-Leste | $322 | $1.67 |
| 25% of Timor-Leste | $418 | $2.16 |
| 50% of Timor-Leste | $560 | $2.90 |
| 75% of Timor-Leste | $775 | $4.01 |
| 90% of Timor-Leste | $1,088 | $5.63 |
| 99% of Timor-Leste | $2,620 | $14 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Timor-Leste
How much of Timor-Leste and of the world lived on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Timor-Leste | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 53% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 44% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 3% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | <1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayTimor-Leste 53% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayTimor-Leste 44% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayTimor-Leste 3% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayTimor-Leste <1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 53% of Timor-Leste lived on Level 1, under $3.00 a day per person; worldwide, roughly one in seven people do.
The line that moved
In Timor-Leste, 56% lived under the $3.00 line at the 2001 survey; 44% at the 2014 one — a fall of 11 points in 13 years.
Share of Timor-Leste under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Timor-Leste (survey year 2014), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Timor-Leste's — and a few far from it, for scale.