Share of population not using improved drinking water sources in Lesotho
Lesotho: Share of population not using improved drinking water sources was 12.6% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of population not using improved 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 %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of population not using improved drinking water sources in Lesotho is 12.6%, measured in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of down 3.4% on the previous year and down 26.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population not using improved drinking water sources in Lesotho peaked at 23.9% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 12.6%, in 2024.
That places Lesotho 37th out of 231 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 21.6% | 19.4% | 23.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 16.9% | 14.8% | 18.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 13.5% | 12.6% | 14.4% | 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 population not using improved drinking water sources in Lesotho?
- Share of population not using improved drinking water sources in Lesotho was 12.6% 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 population not using improved drinking water sources recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 23.9% in 2000.
- What is the lowest share of population not using improved drinking water sources recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 12.6% in 2024.
- How does Lesotho rank for share of population not using improved drinking water sources?
- Lesotho ranks 37th out of 231 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of population not using improved drinking water sources rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 26.2%. 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 Share of population not using improved 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
Proportion of people not using improved drinking water sources. These people might use surface water sources or unprotected springs or wells, as no safe and reliable improved drinking water source is available to them.