Land use: arable land: 10.87% permanent crops: 0.13% other: 89% (2001)
Irrigated land:
10 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
periodic droughts
Environment - current issues:
population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in
overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion;
desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and
redirects water to South Africa
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note:
landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous,
more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level
People Lesotho
Population:
1,865,040
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
2004 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 37.3% (male 350,288; female 345,815)
15-64 years: 57.2% (male 521,434; female 545,183)
65 years and over: 5.5% (male 41,903; female 60,417) (2004 est.)
Median age:
total: 20 years
male: 19.5 years
female: 20.6 years (2004 est.)