arable land: 10.1%
permanent crops: 0.1%
permanent pasture: 65.9%

Lesotho faces great socioeconomic challenges. More than half of its population lives below the property line and the country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is the second highest in the world. In addition Lesotho is a small mountainous landlocked country with little arable land: leaving its population vulnerable to food shortages and reliant on remittances. Lesotho’s persistently high infant child and maternal mortality rates have been increasing during the last decade according to the last two Demographic and Health Surveys. Despite these significant shortcomings Lesotho has made good progress in education; it is on-track to achieve universal primary education and has one of the highest adult literacy rates in Africa.
Lesotho’s migration history is linked to its unique geography; it is surrounded by South Africa with which it shares linguistic and cultural traits. Lesotho at one time had more of its workforce employed outside its borders than any other country. Today remittances equal about 17% of its GDP. With few job options at home a high rate of poverty and higher wages available across the border labor migration to South Africa replaced agriculture as the prevailing Basotho source of income decades ago. The majority of Basotho migrants were single men contracted to work as gold miners in South Africa. However migration trends changed in the 1990s and fewer men found mining jobs in South Africa because of declining gold prices stricter immigration policies and a preference for South African workers.
Although men still dominate cross-border labor migration more women are working in South Africa mostly as domestics because they are widows or their husbands are unemployed. Internal rural-urban flows have also become more frequent with more women migrating within the country to take up jobs in the garment industry or moving to care for loved ones with HIV/AIDS. Lesotho’s small population of immigrants is increasingly composed of Taiwanese and Chinese migrants who are involved in the textile industry and small retail businesses.

urban: 94.6% of population
rural: 77% of population
total: 81.8% of population
urban: 5.4% of population
rural: 23% of population
total: 18.2% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 37.3% of population
rural: 27.6% of population
total: 30.3% of population
urban: 62.7% of population
rural: 72.4% of population
total: 69.7% of population (2015 est.)

Popular Front for Democracy of PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]
Reformed Congress of Lesotho or RCL [Keketso RANTSO]

Small mountainous and completely landlocked by South Africa Lesotho depends on a narrow economic base of textile manufacturing agriculture remittances and regional customs revenue. About three-fourths of the people live in rural areas and engage in animal herding and subsistence agriculture although Lesotho produces less than 20% of the nation's demand for food. Agriculture is vulnerable to weather and climate variability.
Lesotho relies on South Africa for much of its economic activity; Lesotho imports 90% of the goods it consumes from South Africa including most agricultural inputs. Households depend heavily on remittances from family members working in South Africa in mines on farms and as domestic workers though mining employment has declined substantially since the 1990s. Lesotho is a member of the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) and revenues from SACU accounted for roughly 44% of total government revenue in 2014. The South African Government also pays royalties for water transferred to South Africa from a dam and reservoir system in Lesotho. However the government continues to strengthen its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties and other transfers.
The government maintains a large presence in the economy - government consumption accounted for 37% of GDP in 2014 and the government remains Lesotho's largest employer. Access to credit remains a problem for the private sector. Lesotho's largest private employer is the textile and garment industry - approximately 36,000 Basotho mainly women work in factories producing garments for export to South Africa and the US. Diamond mining in Lesotho has grown in recent years and may contribute 8.5% to GDP by 2015 according to current forecasts.

$5.77 billion (2015 est.)
$5.631 billion (2014 est.)
$5.443 billion (2013 est.)

2.5% (2015 est.)
3.4% (2014 est.)
3.6% (2013 est.)

$3,000 (2015 est.)
$2,900 (2014 est.)
$2,800 (2013 est.)

20.3% of GDP (2015 est.)
22% of GDP (2014 est.)
25.7% of GDP (2013 est.)

28.1% (2014 est.)
25% (2008 est.)

63.2 (1995)
56 (1986-87)

53.4% of GDP (2015 est.)
47.8% of GDP (2014)

3.2% (2015 est.)
5.3% (2014 est.)

6.75% (2 February 2016)
6.25% (31 December 2015)

10.59% (31 December 2015 est.)
10.34% (31 December 2014 est.)

$340.6 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$353.7 million (31 December 2014 est.)

$535.4 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$569.1 million (31 December 2014 est.)

$47.8 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$14.77 million (31 December 2014 est.)

-$54 million (2015 est.)
-$176 million (2014 est.)

$844.1 million (2015 est.)
$826.4 million (2014 est.)

$1.737 billion (2015 est.)
$1.858 billion (2014 est.)

$904.2 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$1.071 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$866.7 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$876.3 million (31 December 2014 est.)

$376.2 million (31 December 2015 est.)
$262.9 million (31 December 2014 est.)

maloti (LSL) per US dollar -
12.7589 (2015 est.)
10.85 (2014 est.)
10.85 (2013 est.)
8.2 (2012 est.)
7.26 (2011 est.)

1.94% of GDP (2012)
2.3% of GDP (2011)
1.94% of GDP (2010)