Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966.

The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades.

King Moshoeshoe was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995.

Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 7 years of military rule.

In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community.

Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 2,125,262 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 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 35.7% (male 382,308/female 377,303) 15-64 years: 59.3% (male 613,979/female 645,818) 65 years and over: 5% (male 42,621/female 63,233) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 21.1 years male: 20.4 years female: 21.7 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.144% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 24.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 22.49 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: -0.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.013 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.951 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.674 male(s)/female total population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 79.85 deaths/1,000 live births male: 84.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 75.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 39.97 years male: 40.73 years female: 39.18 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 3.21 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 28.9% (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 320,000 (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 29,000 (2003 est.)

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

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

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Religions: Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20%

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

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 84.8% male: 74.5% female: 94.5% (2003 est.)

Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa and also generates royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own electrical power needs. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $5.492 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $1.48 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 6.2% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $2,700 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.1% industry: 43% services: 40.9% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 838,000 (2000)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa industry and services: 14%

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Unemployment rate: 45% (2002)

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Population below poverty line: 49% (1999)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.9% highest 10%: 43.4%

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 63.2 (1995)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 32% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $778.9 million expenditures: $734.7 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

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Industries: food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism

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Industrial production growth rate: 15.5% (1999)

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Electricity - production: 250 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 244.5 million kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 12 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 1,400 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - exports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Current account balance: -$75.44 million (2006 est.)

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Exports: $779.1 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000)

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Exports - partners: Hong Kong 29.6%, China 24%, Taiwan 22.3%, Germany 5.7%, India 5.5% (2006)

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Imports: $1.401 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products

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Imports - partners: US 83.8%, Belgium 12.7%, Canada 2.4% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $528.2 million (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $735 million (2002)

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Economic aid - recipient: $41.5 million (2000)

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Currency (code): loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)

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Exchange rates: maloti per US dollar - 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.541 (2002)

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Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March