People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho
Lesotho: People not using safely managed drinking water sources was 1.61 million people in 2024. ▼ Falling
People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in people.
Analysis
Lesotho recorded 1.61 million people for people not using safely managed drinking water sources in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and down 0.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, people not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho peaked at 1.83 million people in 2000 and was at its lowest, 1.61 million people, in 2024.
Lesotho ranks 64th of 163 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | people | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.83 million people | — |
| 2001 | 1.81 million people | -1.1% |
| 2002 | 1.78 million people | -1.3% |
| 2003 | 1.76 million people | -1.5% |
| 2004 | 1.73 million people | -1.8% |
| 2005 | 1.69 million people | -2.0% |
| 2006 | 1.67 million people | -1.6% |
| 2007 | 1.65 million people | -0.7% |
| 2008 | 1.64 million people | -0.5% |
| 2009 | 1.64 million people | -0.5% |
| 2010 | 1.63 million people | -0.5% |
| 2011 | 1.62 million people | -0.4% |
| 2012 | 1.62 million people | -0.2% |
| 2013 | 1.62 million people | -0.1% |
| 2014 | 1.62 million people | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 1.62 million people | +0.1% |
| 2016 | 1.62 million people | +0.1% |
| 2017 | 1.62 million people | +0.1% |
| 2018 | 1.62 million people | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 1.62 million people | -0.1% |
| 2020 | 1.62 million people | -0.1% |
| 2021 | 1.62 million people | -0.1% |
| 2022 | 1.61 million people | -0.2% |
| 2023 | 1.61 million people | -0.3% |
| 2024 | 1.61 million people | -0.3% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 1.61 million people is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 7.56 million people, 21% of the median. (31 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 1.61 million people is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 12.93 million people, 12% of the median. (26 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1.72 million people | 1.64 million people | 1.83 million people | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.62 million people | 1.62 million people | 1.63 million people | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.61 million people | 1.61 million people | 1.62 million people | 5 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More environment data for Lesotho
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.284 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 0.783 °C (2025)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual -0.521 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -2.27 % change on previous year (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per unit of GDP 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e), annual -0.4197 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is people not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho?
- People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Lesotho was 1.61 million people in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest people not using safely managed drinking water sources recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 1.83 million people in 2000.
- What is the lowest people not using safely managed drinking water sources recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.61 million people in 2024.
- How does Lesotho rank for people not using safely managed drinking water sources?
- Lesotho ranks 64th out of 163 countries with data for 2024.
- Is people not using safely managed drinking water sources rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of People not using safely managed drinking water sources. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
People not using safely managed drinking water sources either use unimproved drinking water sources or the improved sources they use are not located on their premises, not available when needed, or not free of contamination.