| Lesotho |
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| Background: Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 7 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Maseru
geographic coordinates: 29 28 S, 27 30 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Area Total: 30,355 sq km |
| Area Land: 30,355 sq km |
| Area Water: 0 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers |
| Terrain: mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m |
| Natural Resources: water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone |
| Land Use Arable Land: 10.87% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.13% |
| Land Use Other: 89% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 30 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: periodic droughts |
| Environment Current Issues: population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa |
| Geography Note: landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level |
| Population |
Population: 2,125,262
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 35.7% (male 382,308/female 377,303) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 59.3% (male 613,979/female 645,818) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 5% (male 42,621/female 63,233) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 21.1 years |
| Median Age Male: 20.4 years |
| Median Age Female: 21.7 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 0.144% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 24.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 22.49 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.03 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.013 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 0.951 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.674 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 79.85 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 84.4 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 75.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 39.97 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 40.73 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 39.18 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 3.21 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 28.9% (2003 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 320,000 (2003 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: 29,000 (2003 est.) |
| Religions: Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20% |
| Languages: Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 84.8% |
| Literacy Male: 74.5% |
| Literacy Female: 94.5% (2003 est.) |
| Administrative Divisions: 10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka |
| Legal System: based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
| Economy |
| Overview: Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa and also generates royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own electrical power needs. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $5.195 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 1.7% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 16.1% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 43% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 40.9% (2006 est.) |
| Labor Force: 838,000 (2000) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa
industry and services: 14% |
| Unemployment Rate: 45% (2002) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4% |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 5% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 15.5% (1999) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 250 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004) |
| Electricity Consumption: 244.5 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 0 kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 12 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004) |
| Oil Production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 1,400 bbl/day (2004) |
| Natural Gas Production: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: $779.1 million f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000) |
| Exports Partners: US 83.8%, Belgium 12.7%, Canada 2.4% (2005) |
| Imports: $1.401 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products |
| Imports Partners: Hong Kong 29.6%, China 24%, Taiwan 22.3%, Germany 5.7%, India 5.5% (2005) |
| Debt External: $735 million (2002) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $41.5 million (2000) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 48,000 (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 245,100 (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: rudimentary system |
| Telephone System Domestic: consists of a modest but growing number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system; a cellular mobile telephone system is growing |
| Telephone System International: country code - 266; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) |
| Radios: NA (2002) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 1 (2000) |
| Televisions: NA |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 1 (2000) |
| Internet Users: 43,000 (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Airports: 28 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 2.6% (2006) |
| Disputes International: none |