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Lesotho — Population
Population, Total for Lesotho, 1960–2025.
Latest value · 2025
2.36 million
Population, Total · people · +220.9% since 1960
Population for Lesotho was 2.36 million in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 66 years, from 1960 to 2025. The latest year is also the highest value on record for this series. The lowest was 736,500 in 1960 (about 3.2× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 1.81% per year.
Lesotho ranks 144 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 66%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 15.10 million, so Lesotho sits below it. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 12%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
2.36 million
First (1960)
736,500
Change
+220.9%
Highest
2.36 million
in 2025
Lowest
736,500
in 1960
Average
1.67 million
Annual growth (CAGR)
1.81%
Years of data
66
Recent years
| Year | people |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,363,325 |
| 2024 | 2,337,423 |
| 2023 | 2,311,472 |
| 2022 | 2,286,110 |
| 2021 | 2,261,542 |
| 2020 | 2,235,727 |
| 2019 | 2,209,405 |
| 2018 | 2,183,603 |
| 2017 | 2,157,110 |
| 2016 | 2,130,422 |
| 2015 | 2,104,611 |
| 2014 | 2,080,089 |
Reading this correctly. Total population based on the de facto definition, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. Figures are in people. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SP.POP.TOTL — Population, Total. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.