Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled the country during its first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995 and subsequently succeeded by his son, King LETSIE III, in 1996. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after seven 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 Batswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relative political stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002, but the National Assembly elections of February 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties disputed how the electoral law was applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly. In May 2012, competitive elections involving 18 parties saw Prime Minister Motsoahae Thomas THABANE form a coalition government - the first in the country's history - that ousted the 14-year incumbent, Pakalitha MOSISILI, who peacefully transferred power the following month. MOSISILI returned to power in snap elections in February 2015 after the collapse of THABANE’s coalition government and an alleged attempted military coup.

Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa

29 30 S, 28 30 E

Africa

slightly smaller than Maryland

0 km (landlocked)

none (landlocked)

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

mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains

highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m

water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone

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

30 sq km (2012)

periodic droughts

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

landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 m above sea level

1,953,070

Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%

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

Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20%

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.

0.3% (2016 est.)

25.1 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

14.9 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

-7.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

MASERU (capital) 267,000 (2014)

21

487 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

2.68 children born/woman (2016 est.)

47% (2009/10)

10.6% of GDP (2014)

1.3 beds/1,000 population (2006)

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.)

22.73% (2015 est.)

308,100 (2015 est.)

9,900 (2015 est.)

11.9% (2014)

10.3% (2014)

13% of GDP (2008)

parliamentary constitutional monarchy

10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka

4 October 1966 (from the UK)

Independence Day, 4 October (1966)

previous 1959, 1967; latest adopted 2 April 1993 (effectively restoring the 1967 version); amended several times, last in 2011 (2016)

mixed legal system of 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; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

All Basotho Convention or ABC [Motsoahae Thomas THABANE]

Basotho Congress Party or BCP [Thulo MAHLAKENG]

Basotho National Party or BNP [Thesele MASERIBANE]

Democratic Congress or DC [Pakalitha MOSISILI]

Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Mothetjoa METSING]

Lesotho Peoples Congress or LPC [Molahlehi LETLOTLO]

Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP [Vincent MALEBO]

National Independent Party or NIP [Kimetso MATHABA]

Popular Front for Democracy of PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]

Reformed Congress of Lesotho or RCL [Keketso RANTSO]

Media Institute of Southern Africa, Lesotho chapter [Tsebo MATŠASA] (pushes for media freedom)

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, CD, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three horizontal stripes of blue (top), white, and green in the proportions of 3:4:3; the colors represent rain, peace, and prosperity respectively; centered in the white stripe is a black Basotho hat representing the indigenous people; the flag was unfurled in October 2006 to celebrate 40 years of independence

mokorotio (Basotho hat); national colors: blue, white, green, black

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.

$6.019 billion (2016 est.)

$5.878 billion (2015 est.)

$5.717 billion (2014 est.)

$1.806 billion (2015 est.)

2.4% (2016 est.)

2.8% (2015 est.)

3.4% (2014 est.)

$3,100 (2016 est.)

$3,000 (2015 est.)

$3,000 (2014 est.)

27.8% of GDP (2016 est.)

24.1% of GDP (2015 est.)

23.4% of GDP (2014 est.)

corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism

0.7% (2016 est.)

919,900 (2016 est.)

28.1% (2014 est.)

25% (2008 est.)

57.1% (2010 est.)

63.2 (1995)

56 (1986-87)

46.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

-7.9% of GDP (2016 est.)

53.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

47.8% of GDP (2014)

1 April - 31 March

8.3% (2016 est.)

3.2% (2015 est.)

6.75% (2 February 2016)

6.25% (31 December 2015)

12.3% (31 December 2016 est.)

10.59% (31 December 2015 est.)

$342.3 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$340.6 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$535.4 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$569.1 million (31 December 2014 est.)

$71.01 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$47.8 million (31 December 2015 est.)

-$144 million (2016 est.)

-$178 million (2015 est.)

$851.6 million (2016 est.)

$844.1 million (2015 est.)

manufactures (clothing, footwear), wool and mohair, food and live animals, electricity, water, diamonds

$1.688 billion (2016 est.)

$1.737 billion (2015 est.)

food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products

$812.5 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$904.2 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$948.8 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$866.7 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$438.2 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$376.2 million (31 December 2015 est.)

maloti (LSL) per US dollar -

16.15 (2016 est.)

12.76 (2015 est.)

12.76 (2014 est.)

10.85 (2013 est.)

8.2 (2012 est.)

500 million kWh (2014 est.)

800 million kWh (2014 est.)

0 kWh (2013 est.)

300 million kWh (2014 est.)

80,000 kW (2014 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

100% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2016 es)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

5,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

5,121 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2014 es)

300,000 Mt (2013 est.)

1 state-owned TV station and 2 state-owned radio stations; government controls most private broadcast media; satellite TV subscription service available; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters obtainable (2008)

.ls

7P (2016)

24 (2013)

Lesotho Defense Force (LDF): Army (includes Air Wing) (2012)

18-24 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women serve as commissioned officers (2012)

1.94% of GDP (2012)

2.3% of GDP (2011)

1.94% of GDP (2010)

Lesotho's declared policy for its military is the maintenance of the country's sovereignty and the preservation of internal security; in practice, external security is guaranteed by South Africa

South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration