Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS 3
This chapter describes the demographic and socioeconomic profile of respondents
interviewed in the 2009-10 TLDHS. This information is useful in the interpretation of findings and in
understanding the results presented later in the report. The survey collected basic information on
respondents’ age, level of education, marital status, religion, ethnicity, and wealth status. In addition,
information was collected on respondents’ exposure to mass media and literacy status, employment
status, occupation, and type of earnings. Additional information collected includes knowledge and
attitudes concerning tuberculosis and use of tobacco.
For the first time, the 2009-10 TLDHS gathered information from all women and men
irrespective of their marital status, in contrast with the 2003 DHS, which sampled only ever-married
women and men. The discussion in this report therefore refers to both unmarried and married women
and men. In addition, tables in this report show detailed information for men age 15-49, so that
characteristics associated with women in the same age group may be compared.
Throughout this report, numbers in the tables reflect weighted numbers. In most cases,
percentages based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Percentages based on
fewer than 25 unweighted cases are suppressed and replaced with an asterisk to caution readers when
interpreting data that a percentage based on fewer than 50 cases may not be statistically reliable 1 .
3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS
A description of the background characteristics of the 13,137 women age 15-49 and 4,076
men age 15-49 interviewed in the 2009-10 TLDHS is shown in Table 3.1.
More than half of the respondents (56 percent of women and 55 percent of men) are under age
30. In general, the proportion of women and men in each age group declines as age increases (with the
exception of women and men in the age group 35-39), reflecting the comparatively young age
structure of the population in Timor-Leste. Three-fifths of women (60 percent) and just over half of
men (53 percent) are currently married or living together. Thirty-six percent of women in the sample
have never married compared with 46 percent of men. On the other hand, women are more likely to
be divorced, separated, or widowed than men (4 percent compared with 1 percent).
The place of residence is a background characteristic that determines access to services and
exposure to information pertaining to reproductive health and other aspects of life. The majority of
respondents reside in rural areas: nearly one in five respondents lives in Dili, and about one in ten
lives in Baucau and Ermera. Respondents are least likely to reside in Manufahi.
Women are disadvantaged in terms of educational attainment. This is observed at all levels of
education. The male-female difference is especially obvious among those with no education and those
with secondary or higher levels of education. Nearly three in ten women have no education compared
with one in five men. Similarly, 48 percent of women have secondary or higher levels of education
compared with 55 percent of men.
The vast majority of respondents are Roman Catholic (98 percent), while 1 to 2 percent of
women and men are Protestant.
1 For mortality rates, parentheses are used if based on 250 to 499 children exposed to the risk of mortality in any
of the component rates, and suppressed if based on fewer than 250 children exposed to the risk of mortality in
any of the component rates.
Characteristics of Respondents | 31