The population of Lesotho in 2015 was estimated to be around 2 million people, making it the 143rd most populous country in the world. The majority of Lesotho’s population is Basotho, with other nationalities also present. The Lesotho economy is heavily reliant on services and manufacturing, with these sectors accounting for roughly two-thirds of the country’s GDP. Other exports include diamonds and apparel. Lesotho has strong trade ties with its African neighbours, particularly South Africa and Botswana, as well as other countries worldwide. In terms of politics, Lesotho is a unitary parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system. In 2015 Prime Minister Thomas Thabane was the leader after winning reelection in 2012. In foreign relations, Lesotho is a member of both the United Nations and African Union (AU) and is actively involved in international affairs such as peacekeeping operations. Relations with its African neighbours have been mostly positive but tensions remain between Lesotho and some countries over sovereignty disputes. See ehealthfacts for Lesotho in the year of 2005.
Yearbook 2015
Lesotho. According to COUNTRYAAH, Maseru is the capital of Lesotho which is located in Southern Africa. New elections were held in February, two years earlier than planned, to try to resolve the political crisis that prevailed between Lesotho’s leading politicians and the military. Pakalitha Mosisili, longtime prime minister, returned to government. His party Democratic Congress (DC) was the largest with 47 seats against 46 for outgoing Prime Minister Tom Thabane’s Allbasothian Convention (ABC).
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Lesotho country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
Mosisili formed a sea party coalition that had 65 of the parliament’s 120 seats. The government included Lesotho’s Congress for Democracy (LCD), which previously collaborated with ABC.
Tensions returned to the day when former army chief Maaparankoe Mahao was shot dead in June. The regional cooperation organization SADC decided to investigate the incident. In 2014, Mahao replaced Tlali Kamoli, who Thabane blamed for an alleged coup attempt, which caused Thabane to flee to South Africa temporarily. Kamoli has been reinstated by the Mosisili government.