Compare
Lesotho vs South Africa
How Lesotho and South Africa compare on 37 measures, from 1820 to 2025. The main differences:
- Life expectancy · In 2023, South Africa was higher: 66.1 years against 57.4 years
- GDP per person · In 2025, South Africa was higher: $5,713 against $1,021
- Population · In 2023, South Africa was higher: 63.2 million people against 2.31 million people
- Military spending · In 2025, Lesotho was higher: 1.63% of GDP against 0.74% of GDP
- CO₂ per person · In 2024, South Africa was higher: 6.88 tonnes against 0.43 tonnes
Life expectancy →LesothoSouth AfricaUN projection (medium variant)95% prediction interval
years · UN · log scale
Every measure
LesothoSouth Africa
| Measure | Lesotho | South Africa | Over the years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health | |||
| Life expectancyyears · 2023 | 57.4 | 66.1 | |
| Child mortalitydeaths before age 5 per 100 live births · 2024 | 6 | 3.5 | |
| Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births · 2023 | 56.5 | 27.9 | |
| Depression% of people · 2017 | 5.64 | 3.75 | |
| Suicide ratedeaths per 100,000 people · 2017 | 31.7 | 11.2 | |
| People | |||
| Populationpeople · 2023 | 2.31 million | 63.2 million | |
| Population growth% a year · 2023 | 1.12 | 1.32 | |
| Fertility ratebirths per woman · 2023 | 2.69 | 2.22 | |
| Urban population% of people · 2025 | 44.7 | 63.8 | |
| Median ageyears · 2023 | 21.4 | 28.2 | |
| People aged 65 and over% of people · 2023 | 3.8 | 6.5 | |
| Net migration rateper 1,000 people · 2023 | -2.2 | 3.6 | |
| Economy | |||
| GDP per personUS dollars at 2015 prices · 2025 | $1,021 | $5,713 | |
| GDP growth% a year · 2025 | 4.92024 | 1.1 | |
| Inflation% a year · 2025 | 4 | 3.2 | |
| Government debt% of GDP · 2025 | 49.4 | 762024 | |
| Education | |||
| Learning-adjusted schoolingyears · 2020 | 6.3 | 5.6 | |
| Adult literacy% of adults · 2024 | 90.5 | 91.2 | |
| Girls in primary school% of girls of primary-school age · 2017 | 93.4 | 86.7 | |
| Politics | |||
| Electoral democracyindex, 0 to 1 · 2025 | 0.66 | 0.74 | |
| Human rightsindex, 0 to 1 · 2025 | 0.84 | 0.86 | |
| Conflict | |||
| Deaths in conflictsdeaths a year · 2022 | 0 | 0 | |
| Military | |||
| Military spending% of GDP · 2025 | 1.63 | 0.74 | |
| Military spending in US dollarsUS dollars at 2024 prices · 2025 | $37.3M | $3B | |
| Military spending per personUS dollars per person · 2025 | $17 | $49 | |
| Military share of state spending% of government spending · 2025 | 2.7 | 2.2 | |
| Armed forces personnelpeople · 2020 | 2,000 | 89,000 | |
| National power% of world capability · 2022 | 0.01 | 0.55 | |
| Armed forces, share of workers% of the labour force · 2020 | 0.24 | 0.4 | |
| Arms importsSIPRI trend-indicator values · 2025 | 1 million2019 | 30 million | |
| Climate | |||
| Temperature°C · 2025 | 11.8 | 18.3 | |
| Days above 35 °Cdays a year · 2014 | 0 | 13.2 | |
| Tropical nightsnights a year · 2014 | 0 | 27.1 | |
| Technology and environment | |||
| CO₂ per persontonnes per person · 2024 | 0.43 | 6.88 | |
| Internet users% of people · 2024 | 51.8 | 78.4 | |
| Access to electricity% of people · 2024 | 60.6 | 90.2 | |
| Forest area% of land · 2024 | 1.1 | 18.8 | |
Each country on its own
Good to know
- Sources: UN, Gapminder and UN IGME, IHME, World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, Our World in Data, V-Dem, UCDP, SIPRI, IISS, Correlates of War, ERA5, CMIP6, EDGAR, ITU and FAO. Each measure’s page names its own and what it counts.
- Values are drawn on today’s borders. Years without a published value are left empty, never filled in.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time