Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Lesotho
Lesotho: Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS was 55.8 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Lesotho, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
In 2024, shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Lesotho stood at 55.8 1000 ha. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 22.9% on the previous year and down 72.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Lesotho peaked at 275.56 1000 ha in 2018 and was at its lowest, 55.8 1000 ha, in 2024.
Lesotho ranks 61st of 223 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 157.31 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 113.41 1000 ha | -27.9% |
| 2003 | 113.7 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2004 | 125.76 1000 ha | +10.6% |
| 2005 | 153.26 1000 ha | +21.9% |
| 2006 | 170.94 1000 ha | +11.5% |
| 2007 | 171.67 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2008 | 191.01 1000 ha | +11.3% |
| 2009 | 196.97 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 2010 | 209.21 1000 ha | +6.2% |
| 2011 | 209.39 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2012 | 203.8 1000 ha | -2.7% |
| 2013 | 207.51 1000 ha | +1.8% |
| 2014 | 201.62 1000 ha | -2.8% |
| 2015 | 213.33 1000 ha | +5.8% |
| 2016 | 241.74 1000 ha | +13.3% |
| 2017 | 247.97 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 2018 | 275.56 1000 ha | +11.1% |
| 2019 | 265.6 1000 ha | -3.6% |
| 2020 | 214.49 1000 ha | -19.2% |
| 2021 | 157.27 1000 ha | -26.7% |
| 2022 | 109.63 1000 ha | -30.3% |
| 2023 | 72.37 1000 ha | -34.0% |
| 2024 | 55.8 1000 ha | -22.9% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 55.8 1000 ha is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 14.44 1000 ha, 3.9× the median. (41 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 55.8 1000 ha is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 25.07 1000 ha, 2.2× the median. (44 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 154.89 1000 ha | 113.41 1000 ha | 196.97 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 227.57 1000 ha | 201.62 1000 ha | 275.56 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 121.91 1000 ha | 55.8 1000 ha | 214.49 1000 ha | 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 shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Lesotho?
- Shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Lesotho was 55.8 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest shrub-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 275.56 1000 ha in 2018.
- What is the lowest shrub-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 55.8 1000 ha in 2024.
- How does Lesotho rank for shrub-covered areas — area from modis?
- Lesotho ranks 61st out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is shrub-covered areas — area from modis rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 72.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.