Demographics of Lesotho

Population: 2,143,141
note: 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 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (male 426,556; female 421,563)
15-64 years: 56% (male 575,580; female 619,280)
65 years and over: 4% (male 42,274; female 57,888) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.65% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 31.74 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 14.59 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.64 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 82.97 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 50.79 years
male: 49.78 years
female: 51.84 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.15 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
adjective: Basotho

Ethnic groups: Sotho[?] 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%,

Religions: Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20%

Languages: Sesotho[?] (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 71.3%
male: 81.1%
female: 62.3% (1995 est.)

See also : Lesotho