Countries
Key facts
- Capital
- Maseru
- Region
- Africa, Southern Africa
- Population
- 2,363,325 (2025)
- Area
- 30,355 km²
- Currency
- Lesotho loti (LSL), South African rand (ZAR)
- Languages
- English, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa
- Calling code
- +266
- Internet domain
- .ls
- ISO codes
- LS, LSO, 426
- Time zone
- UTC+2:00
- United Nations
- Member state
- Postal code pattern
- ### (# = digit, @ = letter)
Land and position
Lesotho covers about 30,355 square kilometres. By area it ranks 143rd among the 250 countries and territories on this site. It is a little smaller than Belgium and a little larger than Armenia. It shares a land border with 1 neighbour: South Africa. It is landlocked, which means it has no sea coast. Its centre lies at about 30° south, 28° east, in the southern hemisphere.
Neighbours
People
About 2.36 million people live in Lesotho (World Bank, 2025). That makes it the 145th most populous of the 246 places on this site with a figure. On average there are 78 people to each square kilometre. About 45 percent of people live in towns and cities (World Bank, 2025). A baby born there can expect to live about 58 years (World Bank, 2024). Languages listed for it: English, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa. A person from Lesotho is called Mosotho.
Money and economy
The currency is the Lesotho loti (code LSL, symbol L). Also listed as used here: South African rand (ZAR). The World Bank puts the size of its economy (GDP) at about US$ 2.57 billion (2025), which is about US$ 1,089 for each person (2025).
Time
Lesotho uses one time zone, UTC+2:00 (Africa/Maseru). Clocks stay the same all year: there is no daylight saving time.
Time now: loading
Offsets are for January 2026. See Time Zones for a converter.
Largest cities
| City | People |
|---|---|
| Maseru | 359,753 |
| Maputsoe | 61,916 |
| Mohale's Hoek | 46,593 |
| Mafeteng | 45,287 |
| Hlotse | 43,967 |
| Butha-Buthe | 40,599 |
City figures are from GeoNames and count the city itself, not the wider urban area. They can be some years old, so use them to see the order of size.
More in Southern Africa
Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia. See the whole region.
Figures were collected on 11 November 2026 from the World Bank, GeoNames and the open countries data set. See About and data sources. Borders and names follow those sources and do not express any view on disputed territory.