Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Lesotho
Lesotho: Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services was 70.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services 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 %.
Analysis
In 2024, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Lesotho stood at 70.6%. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.6% on the previous year and up 6.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Lesotho peaked at 70.6% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 60.4%, in 2000.
That places Lesotho 137th out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 62.3% | 60.4% | 64.2% | 10 |
| 2010s | 66.5% | 64.6% | 68.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 69.8% | 68.9% | 70.6% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More environment data for Lesotho
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 3.06 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.31 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.7882 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.2847 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0.3356 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0003 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 1.6 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0002 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0038 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.1865 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Lesotho?
- Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Lesotho was 70.6% 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 share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 70.6% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 60.4% in 2000.
- How does Lesotho rank for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services?
- Lesotho ranks 137th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is up 6.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- 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 Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services. 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
Proportion of people who use an improved drinking water source, which is either located on their premises, or at a collection point, which takes no more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip.