Demographics of Lesotho

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2019)
Date	04 Nov 2021

As of 2021, the population of Lesotho is projected at 2.16 million, up by 0.78% compared with 2.14 million in 2020. Lesotho is ranked 147th in terms of population and 134th in terms of population growth rate.

There are 55.18 thousand births in Lesotho in 2021. That is 151 per day, which is ranked 133rd. The crude birth rate is 25.56 per 1000 people. There are 29.2 thousand deaths in Lesotho in 2021. That is 80 per day, which is ranked 130th. The crude death rate is 13.52 per 1000 people.

0.69 million people are living in urban areas, which is 29.48% of Lesotho population. Lesotho is ranked 205th in terms of urbanization.

The Sex Ratio in Lesotho in 2021 is 97.53 males per 100 females. There are 1.07 million males and 1.09 million females in Lesotho. The percentage of female population is 50.63% compare to 49.37% male population. Lesotho has 27.02 thousand more females than males. Lesotho is at 78th position out of 201 countries/territories in terms of female to male ratio.

Lesotho population

Year	Population	Growth (%)
1950	704,686	-
1955	766,763	1.71
1960	837,264	1.83
1965	922,307	2.05
1970	1,028,930	2.29
1975	1,160,795	2.67
1980	1,340,258	2.89
1985	1,526,132	2.45
1990	1,703,757	2.23
1995	1,898,598	2
2000	2,032,805	0.65
2005	1,996,115	-0.49
2010	1,995,575	0.27
2015	2,059,011	0.76
2016	2,075,041	0.78
2017	2,091,532	0.79
2018	2,108,327	0.8
2019	2,125,267	0.8
2020	2,142,252	0.8
2021	2,159,067	0.78

Total
Crude

Lesotho death and birth rate

Year	Total		Crude(per 1000)
Year	Death	Birth	Crude death	Crude birth
1950	15,229	30,419	21.37	42.75
1955	15,148	33,036	19.75	43.07
1960	15,562	36,142	18.55	43.11
1965	16,479	40,178	17.81	43.46
1970	17,282	45,604	16.75	44.23
1975	17,304	51,522	14.81	44.10
1980	16,683	56,825	12.46	42.40
1985	16,212	59,796	10.64	39.23
1990	17,200	59,848	10.07	35.01
1995	22,131	60,034	11.66	31.68
2000	32,476	62,068	16.21	30.95
2005	40,517	61,158	20.20	30.47
2010	38,748	58,224	19.32	29.04
2015	32,419	57,266	15.75	27.80
2020	29,334	55,669	13.69	26.00
2021	29,197	55,176	13.52	25.56

Population
Urbanization

Urban and rural population of Lesotho

Year	Population		Urbanization
Year	Urban	Rural	growth rate (%)	Urban (%)
1950	12,844	721,101	-	1.750
1955	16,146	771,660	4.70	2.049
1960	29,906	821,685	14.76	3.512
1965	59,437	874,218	14.64	6.366
1970	88,923	944,127	7.21	8.608
1975	124,517	1,026,118	7.00	10.822
1980	150,006	1,160,112	3.16	11.450
1985	173,014	1,299,178	2.61	11.752
1990	224,016	1,379,922	5.88	13.967
1995	298,639	1,462,720	5.64	16.955
2000	365,288	1,503,411	3.69	19.548
2005	433,749	1,515,794	3.42	22.249
2010	506,015	1,534,536	3.16	24.798
2015	585,146	1,589,499	2.89	26.908
2020	674,092	1,648,125	2.86	29.028
2021	693,232	1,658,271	2.84	29.480

Population pyramid
Gender ratio

Lesotho population by Age Group (2011)

Age group	Male	Female	Total		M per 100 F
Age group	Male	Female	Persons	Share (%)	M per 100 F
00-04	128,225	126,478	254,703	11.80	101.381
05-09	114,123	113,814	227,937	10.56	100.271
10-14	105,238	106,133	211,371	9.79	99.157
15-19	107,161	107,413	214,574	9.94	99.765
20-24	102,497	100,868	203,365	9.42	101.615
25-29	96,427	93,893	190,320	8.81	102.699
30-34	90,816	84,616	175,432	8.13	107.327
35-39	82,313	73,407	155,720	7.21	112.132
40-44	65,893	58,749	124,642	5.77	112.160
45-49	47,666	46,821	94,487	4.38	101.805
50-54	35,161	40,784	75,945	3.52	86.213
55-59	28,866	37,427	66,293	3.07	77.126
60-64	22,844	33,024	55,868	2.59	69.174
65-69	16,515	26,013	42,528	1.97	63.487
70-74	11,584	18,684	30,268	1.40	62.000
75-79	6,671	12,384	19,055	0.88	53.868
80-84	2,926	7,509	10,435	0.48	38.967
85-89	924	3,778	4,702	0.22	24.457
90-94	158	1,115	1,273	0.06	14.170
95-99	12	126	138	0.01	9.524
100+	1	10	11	0.00	10.000
Total	1,066,021	1,093,046	2,159,067		97.528