Country Info:
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Lesotho Location:
Physical. Lesotho is an enclave of South Africa. It covers an area slightly smaller than Maryland. The climate is arid to semiarid, with cold winters and hot summers. The terrain is mostly highland with plateaus, hills and mountains. Natural resources include water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay and building stone. The stress of population growth has led to overpopulation of marginal areas, which, in turn, has led to overgrazing, soil erosion and exhaustion, and desertification.
Lesotho Geography:
Geography
Area: 30,355 sq km
Capital: Maseru (180,000 2004)
Environmental concerns: overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion, desertification; Highlands Water Project that redirects water to South Africa
Geographical features: mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains
Climate: temperate with cool to cold, dry winters and hot, wet summers
Lesotho People:
People. More than two million people live in Lesotho. The capital is Maseru. Sesotho (southern Sotho) is spoken by much of the population while English is an official language. Zulu and Xhosa are also spoken. Ethnically, the country is almost entirely Sotho (99.7%). Religions practiced are 80% Christian and 20% indigenous beliefs.
2,022,000 estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) Sotho (99.7%), Europeans, Asians, and other (0.3%)
Annual growth rate: -0.46% (2006 est.)
Major languages are Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa
Religions: Christian (80%), indigenous beliefs (20%)
Lesotho Government:
Government. The formal name for the country is the Kingdom of Lesotho and it gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King Moshoeshoe was exiled from 1990-1992 (his son ruled from 1990-1995) but was reinstated in 1995. While there was military rule from 1986-1993 and a military mutiny in 1998, constitutional reforms have since restored political stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002.
Lesotho is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
The chief of state King Letsie III (since 7 February 1996 - King Letsie III formerly occupied the throne from November 1990 to February 1995, while his father was in exile).
The head of the government is Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili (since 23 May 1998).
Universal suffrage 18 years of age
Lesotho Communication:
Communication and transportation
37,200 (2004) main telephone lines in use
43,000 (2005) Internet users
5,940 km of roadways
2.6 (2004) km railroads
28 (2005) airports
23,000 motor vehicles (2004)
Lesotho Economy:
Economy. The majority of government revenue for Lesotho comes from miners employed in South Africa (35% of male workers are employed in South Africa) and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union. A strengthening of the tax system and the sale of water from a major hydropower facility (completed in January 1998) now generate royalties for Lesotho. Subsistence agriculture is the primary base of the economy, although drought has brought problems. A small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather and jute industries, and an apparel-assembly sector. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.
For more information, you may write to the chancery at 2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; check the U.S. State Department country sites; or type in the country's name on the Internet using a broad-based World Wide Web search engine.
Currency: loti and South African rand
Per capita GDP: $2,500 (2005 est.)
GDP: $5.124 billion (2005 est.)
GDP growth rate: 0.8% (2005 est.)
Inflation rate: 4.7% (2005 est.)
Labor force: agriculture (86%), industry and services (14%) (35% of male wage earners work in South Africa
Lesotho More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lesotho
http://www.lesotho.gov.ls/ |
