section_path: Demographics/Ethnicity and language
section_name: Ethnicity and language
paragraph_text: Ethnicity and language
  
  Timorese communities are not strictly defined by ethnic background or linguistic group. Separate communities may share ethnicity or language, and many areas show overlaps and hybridisation between ethnic and linguistic groups.: 44 Familial relations and descent, which are interlinked with sacred house affiliation, are a more important indicator of identity.: 47 Each family group generally identifies with a single language or dialect.: 49 With this immense local variation in mind, there is a broad cultural and identity distinction between the east (Baucau, Lautém, and Viqueque municipalities) and the west of the country, a product of history more than it is of linguistic and ethnic differences,: 45–47 although it is very loosely associated with the two language groups.: 142–143 There is a small mestiço population of mixed Portuguese and local descent. There is also a small Chinese minority, most of whom are Hakka. Many Chinese left in the mid-1970s as many were disproportionately targeted during the Indonesian occupation, but a significant number have also returned to Timor-Leste following the end of Indonesian occupation. Timor-Leste has a small community of Timorese Indian, specifically of Goan descent, as well as historical immigration from Africa and Yemen. Members of these immigrant minority groups have played important roles in Timor-Leste's history: Nobel Peace Prize laureate, former Prime Minister, and current President José Ramos-Horta, and current Prime Minister and former President Xanana Gusmão are both of Portuguese-Timorese mestiço background, while former Prime Minister and FRETILIN secretary-general Mari Alkatiri is a Hadhrami Arab whose ancestors were from Yemen.
  
  Likely reflecting the mixed origins of the different ethnolinguistic groups of the island, the indigenous languages fall into two language families: Austronesian and Papuan.: 10 Depending on how they are classified, there are up to 19 indigenous languages with up to 30 dialects.: 136 Aside from Tetum, Ethnologue lists the following indigenous languages: Adabe, Baikeno, Bunak, Fataluku, Galoli, Habun, Idaté, Kairui-Midiki, Kemak, Lakalei, Makasae, Makuv'a, Mambae, Nauete, Tukudede, and Waima'a. According to the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are six endangered languages in Timor-Leste: Adabe, Habu, Kairui-Midiki, Maku'a, Naueti, and Waima'a. The largest Malayo-Polynesian group is the Tetum, mostly around Dili or the western border. Other Malayo-Polynesian languages with native speakers of more than 40,000 are Mambai in the central mountains south of Dili, Baikeno in Oecusse, Kemak in the north-west interior, and Tokodede on the northwest coast. The main Papuan languages spoken are Bunak in the centre of Timor, especially within Bobonaro Municipality; Makasae in the eastern Baucau and Viqueque municipalities; and Fataluku in the eastern Lautém Municipality.: 43 The 2015 census found that the most commonly spoken mother tongues were Tetum Prasa (mother tongue for 30.6% of the population), Mambai (16.6%), Makasai (10.5%), Tetum Terik (6.05%), Baikenu (5.87%), Kemak (5.85%), Bunak (5.48%), Tokodede (3.97%), and Fataluku (3.52%). Other indigenous languages accounted for 10.47%, while 1.09% of the population spoke foreign languages natively. An extinct Portuguese creole language, Bidau Creole Portuguese, was spoken in the Dili suburb of Bidau, Nain Feto, spoken by the Portuguese-Timorese mestiço population; it went extinct by the 1960s. A dialect of Malay-based local creole called Dili Malay is spoken by a number of residents in the capital Dili.
  
  Timor-Leste's two official languages are Portuguese and Tetum. In addition, English and Indonesian are designated by the constitution as "working languages".: 3 This is within the Final and Transitional Provisions, which do not set a final date. In 2012, 35% could speak, read, and write Portuguese, which is up significantly from less than 5% in the 2006 UN Development Report. Portuguese is recovering as it has now been made the main official language of Timor, and is being taught in most schools. The use of Portuguese for government information and in the court system provides some barriers to access for those who do not speak it. Tetum is also not understood by everyone in the country.: 11 According to the Observatory of the Portuguese Language, the East Timorese literacy rate was 77.8% in Tetum, 55.6% in Indonesian, and 39.3% in Portuguese, and that the primary literacy rate increased from 73% in 2009 to 83% in 2012. According to the 2015 census, 50% of the population between the ages of 14 and 24 can speak and understand Portuguese. The 2015 census found around 15% of those over the age of five were literate in English.