Where is Lesotho?
About Lesotho
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media
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Lesotho is a below average size country in southern Africa.
Lesotho is a landlocked country with no coastal borders.
The land is mostly highland with hills, plateau and mountains.
The geographical coordinates for the centre of Lesotho, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 29 30S
Longitude - 28 30E
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Check the weather in Maseru now.
This is the time in Maseru now
The Basotho flag is three horizontal stripes of blue, at the top, white and green in the proportions of 3:4:3. The colors represent rain, peace and prosperity.
In the centre of the white stripe is a black Basotho hat representing the indigenous people.
The capital of Lesotho is Maseru.
Lesotho is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with king as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.
In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.
The currency in Lesotho is the loti. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth
Sesotho and English are the official languages.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
Lesotho is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with king as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.
In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.
The currency in Lesotho is the loti. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth
Sesotho and English are the official languages.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Lesotho to provide us with a detailed history of
their own country. Check how here.
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The total land area of Lesotho is 30,355 sq kms which is the 43rd largest in Africa.
Lesotho has no lakes, rivers and canals.
Lesotho has a boundary with 1 country. It is entirely enclosed within South Africa.
- South Africa 1,106 kms
Lesotho has no coastline.
The highest point in Lesotho is Thabana Ntlenyana at 3,482 metres.
The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.
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The total population of Lesotho is 1.96 million people, making it the 43rd largest country in Africa by population.
Of this number 0.99 million are females and 0.97 million are males.
A person from Lesotho is called a Basotho.
To be a citizen of Lesotho, one of your parents must be a citizen of Lesotho or you can be born in Lesotho. You have to live in Lesotho for
5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.
The largest five cities in Lesotho, by population are:-
- Maseru 118,355 people
- Mafeteng 57,059
- Hlotse 47,675
- Maputsoe 32,117
- Mohale's Hoek 28,310
For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
28.2% of the people live in cities or towns.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
28.2% of the people live in cities or towns.
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The birth rate in Lesotho is 24.2 births per 1,000 of population
The death rate in Lesotho is 15.1 deaths per 1,000 people.
Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then
the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.
There are 40.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 48.1 deaths of boys.
The median age for females is 24.3 and for males is 24.4. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number
of people above the median age as below it.
The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 21.0.
The elderly dependency ratio is 7.4. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).
The potential support ratio is 13.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.
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Lesotho spends 10.6% of its total income on health care.
There are 0.07 doctors per 1,000 people.
We have no figures for the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people.
16.6% of the population are estimated as obese.
94.6% of the urban population and 77.0% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or
protected rainwater collection facility.
37.3% of the urban population and 27.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a
permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.
Lesotho releases 0.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 53rd highest in Africa.
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Lesotho spends 6.4% of its total income on education.
Children usually start school at age 6 in Lesotho. Primary education is for seven years until age 13 and secondary education can continue till 18. This may be followed
by further education at a university or college.
We are awaiting information for school terms in Lesotho.
88.3% of females and 70.1% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.
34.4% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. We have no figures for the split between females and males.
The total number of people available for work in Lesotho is 930,800 million.
They work in the following sectors.
- Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
- Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
- Services is everything else
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There are 3 paved airports in Lesotho, which is the 41st highest number in Africa.
There is 1 kilometre of railways in Lesotho, the 39th longest in Africa.
There are 5,622 kilometres of roads in Lesotho, which means Lesotho is in 41st place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.
There is 1 major national newspaper in Lesotho.
There are 2.39 million mobile phone users.
1% of the people have a fixed landline.
534,360 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).
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