E. Timor growing like topsy

E. Timor growing like topsy

AUSTRALIA: East Timor is tipped to have one million people by next year, news reports from the capital Dili said on Wednesday.

A soaring birth rate and return of those that fled the strife that followed its declaration of independence from Indonesia in 1999 are the reasons given for a 17.5 percent increase in population over the last three years to 925,000.

Australia's ABC Radio reported that the first national census revealed one of the highest birth rates in the world.

Census takers said the former Portuguese colony had lost its Indonesian-run family planning services since it gained independence and this was reflected in a galloping fertility rate.

They say higher population growth in areas bordering West Timor, which is part of Indonesia, confirm that many of the tens of thousands of refugees forced out of the country in 1999 have returned home.

In a world first, census workers used satellite technology to record the location of every household in the country. --DPA