Generic Information

Officially the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: Naha ea Lesotho), is an enclaved country surrounded entirely by South Africa. It is by far the largest of the world's three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, with Vatican City and San Marino being the other two. Additionally, it is the only such state outside the Italian peninsula, and the only one that is not a microstate. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km² (11,583 sq mi) and has a population of about 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. The official languages are Sesotho and English. 

It has a population of about 2.3 million people out of which more than 70 percent live in rural areas. About 51 percent are females and 49 percent are males. Although Lesotho is classified as a lower middle-income country, it has a low human development index (HDI) of 0.527, with a rank of 165 out of 188 countries. More than 57 percent of Basotho live below poverty line with more female headed households trapped in poverty than male headed households while the Unemployment rate is estimated at 32.8 percent and the youth are more affected.

Other development challenges include high rate of HIV and AIDS which is estimated at 25.6 percent and ranked second highest in the world. The country has stunting rate of 33.2 percent and remains high across the ten districts. Less than 10 percent of land is arable, and agriculture which is mainly rainfed is the main source of livelihood for rural population.

Lesotho is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, with droughts already affecting harvest yields and causing significant loss of livestock. The climate is predicted to become warmer and dryer, making droughts and floods more frequent and intense. With less snow on the mountains and an increase in run-off rates, soil erosion will worsen and deplete the soil of nutrients. While some climate adaptation measures are being taken, the country lacks the resources for extensive mitigation

Following the 2015/16 El Nino induced drought, over 709,000 people were food insecure in 2016. This number reduced to 257,000 people in 2018 mainly due to high performance of the agricultural sector and stable food prices. However, the Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) presented a deteriorating trend in food security situation as the number of food insecure population continued to increase with 2019 recording a total of 508,000 people in IPC (Integrated Phase Classification for Food Security) Phase 3 (refer to Annex 1, Figure 1). In 2019, Lesotho experienced drought in October/November which resulted in delayed agricultural activities. Two months before harvest, Lesotho is confronted with the worldwide shock, coronavirus which affects lives and livelihoods.

The LVAC conducted a rapid assessment in March through face to face survey to assess the status and conditions of crops, food security and nutrition. The LVAC used the information collected from this assessment as a basis to formulate the assumptions for the most likely scenario for food and nutrition security in view of COVID-19. This scenario will estimate the needs in the next six months (April to September).

Intermittent lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus are expected over the course of 2022, which may constrain economic growth in the year. Increased agricultural output (driven by cannabis production) and strong global demand for diamonds will spur growth in 2023.

2021 Statistics

Lesotho Wikipedia Country Information Lesotho - Wikipedia

Lesotho IMF Country Information Lesotho and the IMF

Lesotho Economist Intelligence Unit Information* Lesotho Economy, Politics and GDP Growth Summary - The Economist Intelligence Unit (eiu.com)

(*note - this is a paid service)

Humanitarian Info

Lesotho World Food Programme Information Lesotho | World Food Programme (wfp.org)

Lesotho UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Information Lesotho | OCHA (unocha.org)

Facts and Figures

Lesotho Wolfram Alpha Information Lesotho - Wolfram|Alpha (wolframalpha.com)

Lesotho World Bank Information Lesotho: Development news, research, data | World Bank

Lesotho Population Information Lesotho Population 2022 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs) (worldpopulationreview.com)

Lesotho Bureau of Statistics Bureau of Statistics (bos.gov.ls)