Background: Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 23 years of military rule.

Map reference: Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 30,350 km²
Land: 30,350 km²

Land boundaries: total 909 km, South Africa 909 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers

Terrain: mostly highland with some plateaus, hills, and mountains

Natural resources: some diamonds and other minerals, water, agricultural and grazing land

Land use
Arable land: 10%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 66%
Forest and woodland: 0%
Other: 24%

Irrigated land: NA km²

Population: 1,896,484 (July 1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
Adjective: Basotho

Ethnic groups: Sotho 99.7%, Europeans 1,600, Asians 800

Languages: Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa

Religions: Christian 80%, rest indigenous beliefs

Birth rate: 34.64 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 9.44 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Environment
Current issues: population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, soil exhaustion; desertification
Current issues note: landlocked; surrounded by South Africa; Highlands Water Project will control, store, and redirect water to South Africa

Infant mortality rate: 71.5 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 61.73 years
Male: 59.91 years
Female: 63.6 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.6 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1966)
Total population: 59%
Male: 44%
Female: 68%

Country name
Conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho
Conventional short form: Lesotho
Former: Basutoland

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital:

Independence: 4 October 1966 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 October (1966)

Constitution: 4 October 1966, suspended January 1970

Legal system: based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal

Executive branch: monarch, chairman of the Military Council, Military Council, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: none - the bicameral Parliament was dissolved following the military coup in January 1986; note - a National Constituent Assembly convened in June 1990 to rewrite the constitution and debate issues of national importance, but it has no legislative authority

Judicial branch: High Court, Court of Appeal

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Designate Teboho KITLEI
In the us chancery: 2,511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 797-5,534
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Leonard H.O. SPEARMAN, Sr.
From the us mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100 Lesotho
From the us telephone: 266 312-666
From the us fax: (266) 310-116

Flag description: divided diagonally from the lower hoist side corner; the upper half is white bearing the brown silhouette of a large shield with crossed spear and club; the lower half is a diagonal blue band with a green triangle in the corner

Economy overview: Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho has no important natural resources other than water. Its economy is based on agriculture, light manufacturing, and remittances from laborers employed in South Africa ($439 million in 1991). The great majority of households gain their livelihoods from subsistence farming and migrant labor. Manufacturing depends largely on farm products to support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries; other industries include textile, clothing, and construction (in particular, a major water improvement project which will permit the sale of water to South Africa). Industry's share of GDP rose from 6% in 1982 to 15% in 1989. Political and economic instability in South Africa raises uncertainty for Lesotho's economy, especially with respect to migrant worker remittances - recently the equivalent of nearly three-fourths of domestic output.

Real gdp growth rate: 5.3% (1991 est.), GNP 2.2% (1991 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $340 (1991 est.), GNP $570 (1991 est.)

Agriculture products: accounts for 19% of GDP (1990 est.) and employs 60-70% of all households; exceedingly primitive, mostly subsistence farming and livestock; principal crops corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley

Industries: food, beverages, textiles, handicrafts, tourism

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 5.0% (1991 est.), accounts for 11% of

Labor force: 689,000 economically active
By occupation: 86.2% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 60% of active male labor force works in South Africa

Unemployment rate: at least 55% among adult males (1991 est.)

Budget: revenues $388 million; expenditures $399 million, including capital expenditures of $132 million (FY93)

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Exports: $57 million (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: wool, mohair, wheat, cattle, peas, beans, corn, hides, skins, baskets
Partners: South Africa 53%, EC 30%, North and South America 13% (1989)

Imports: $805 million (c.i.f., 1991)
Commodoties: mainly corn, building materials, clothing, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum
Partners: South Africa 95%, EC 2% (1989)

Exchange rates: maloti (M) per US$1 - 3.1576 (May 1993), 2.8497 (1992), 2.7563 (1991), 2.5863 (1990), 2.6166 (1989), 2.2611 (1988; note - the Basotho loti is at par with the South African rand

Electricity
Production: power supplied by South Africa

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $55 million, 13% of GDP (1990 est.)

Airports: 28
Usable: 28
With permanentsurface runways: 3
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 1
With runways 1220-2439 m: 2

Disputes international: none