How much foreign aid does the US provide to Timor-Leste?
Refreshed quarterly
About $12.8 million in aid was obligated for fiscal year (FY) 2025, the most recent fully-reported year with net positive obligations for this country.
$12.8M
of foreign aid was obligated to Timor-Leste (FY 2025)
96.9%
of foreign aid was for economic purposes (FY 2025)
The United States gives foreign assistance to provide humanitarian aid and support peace, security, and economic development around the world. According to foreignassistance.gov, investing in global security and stability serves US national security interests by creating strategic and economic connections with other countries.
The more than 20 government agencies that fund or conduct foreign assistance activities report their aid to the Foreign Assistance and Data Reporting Team at foreignassistance.gov, which is jointly staffed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State. Due to data collection and reporting lags from the agencies providing aid, it can take up to two years for data to be considered “fully reported.” And even once they are, these numbers continue to change.
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Timor-Leste is considered an lower-middle income country, according to the World Bank classification system. There are 43 lower-middle income countries that received aid, getting 63.9% of US foreign aid provided to individual countries in FY 2025. Timor-Leste ranked #34 ($12.8 million) among the lower-middle income countries in terms of aid received, between #33 Djibouti ($14.1 million) and #35 Cabo Verde ($7.79 million).
In FY 2025, $12.8 million in foreign aid was committed to Timor-Leste.
Obligations by fiscal year, inflation-adjusted dollars
How much military aid does the US provide to Timor-Leste?
Foreign aid can be either military or non-military in nature. According to foreignassistance.gov, military aid is “... foreign assistance for government armed forces for purposes such as internal security, legitimate self–defense, or to permit their participation in regional or United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations.” Non-military assistance is any other aid, broadly described by “economic assistance.”
In FY 2025, 96.9% of foreign aid was for economic purposes, and the remaining 3.1% was for military purposes.
What is aid to Timor-Leste spent on?
Gross aid, excludes negative obligations
How does foreign aid money get to the intended recipient?
Aid starts in Congress and flows to US government agencies, which are responsible for obligating and disbursing funds and managing the implementing partners that conduct aid activities in the receiving country. An assistance activity “... can be a project, program, cash transfer, delivery of goods, training course, technical assistance, research project, debt relief operation, or a contribution to an international organization.”
What kinds of organizations provide aid in Timor-Leste?
Implementing partners can be based in the US or not, and are divided into eight categories:
- Businesses
- Church and faith-based groups
- Governments (either foreign governments or US government agencies like the Peace Corps or the Department of Defense)
- Multilateral organizations (international institutions whose members are country governments, like the World Food Programme of the United Nations)
- Networks (a global or regional organization that brings together public, private, and civil society groups with similar goals to facilitate knowledge sharing)
- Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or not-for-profit organizations
- Public and private partnerships (collaborations between the public sector and a private partner to deliver public services, often infrastructure)
- Universities and research institutes
83.5% of US aid to Timor-Leste in FY 2025 went to US-based implementing partners.
Gross aid by implementing partner, excludes negative obligations
The top category of aid delivery partner was US-based businesses, accounting for $6.59 million, or 43.5% of all aid.
In FY 2025, funding for US aid to Timor-Leste was appropriated by Congress to five agencies.
| 1. | US Agency for International Development | $10.9M |
| 2. | Peace Corps | $2.2M |
| 3. | Department of State | $1.92M |
| 4. | Department of Energy | $82,000 |
| 5. | Millennium Challenge Corporation | $7,700 |
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
