| Kingdom of Lesotho Naha ea Lesotho (Sotho) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Motto: "Khotso, Pula, Nala" "Peace, Rain, Prosperity" |
||||||
| Anthem: Lesōthō Fatše La Bo-Ntat'a Rōna (English: "Lesotho, land of our Fathers") |
||||||
 |
||||||
| Capital (and largest city) | Maseru | |||||
| Official languages | Sesotho English IsiXhosa SiPhuthi |
|||||
| Religion | 92.1% Christianity 6.6% traditional faiths 1.0% no religion 0.3% others |
|||||
| Demonym | Mosotho (singular) Basotho (plural) |
|||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||
| - | Monarch | Letsie III | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Sam Matekane | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | National Assembly | ||||
| Independence | from the United Kingdom | |||||
| - | Chieftaincy | 1822 | ||||
| - | Basutoland | 18 March 1884 | ||||
| - | Independence declared |
4 October 1966 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 30,355 km2 11,720 sq mi |
||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | estimate | 2,210,646 | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2025 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $6.915 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | 2025 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2025 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $2.373 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $1,110 | ||||
| Gini (2025) | 44.9 | |||||
| HDI (2025) | 0.576 | |||||
| Currency | Lesotho loti (LSL) South African rand (ZAR) |
|||||
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (SAST) | |||||
| Internet TLD | .ls | |||||
| Calling code | +266 | |||||
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Until 2025 it was entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is was the largest of only three sovereign enclaves in the world, the others being San Marino and Vatican City, which are surrounded by Italy. Since the 2025 breakup of South Africa, Lesotho is now surrounded by South Africa to the West and North, Zululand to the East and Xhosaland to the South. Lesotho is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest peak in Southern Africa. It has an area of over 30,000 km2 (11,600 sq mi) and has a population of about 2.3 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru.
