Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Lesotho
Lesotho: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 6.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Lesotho, 1971–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
The most recent figure for government spending on education as a share of gdp in Lesotho is 6.6%, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of down 9.2% on the previous year and down 13.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Lesotho peaked at 13.2% in 2003 and was at its lowest, 4.2%, in 1974.
That places Lesotho 19th out of 199 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4.6% | 4.2% | 4.9% | 4 |
| 1980s | 7.4% | 6.2% | 10.1% | 5 |
| 1990s | 9.6% | 7.0% | 12.5% | 5 |
| 2000s | 11.2% | 9.4% | 13.2% | 8 |
| 2010s | 7.7% | 7.3% | 8.2% | 4 |
| 2020s | 7.0% | 6.6% | 7.3% | 2 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More education data for Lesotho
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 62.0% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 34.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 80.2% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 10,388 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 2.66 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 78.6% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Lesotho?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Lesotho was 6.6% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 13.2% in 2003.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.2% in 1974.
- How does Lesotho rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Lesotho ranks 19th out of 199 countries with data for 2024.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 13.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Government spending on education as a share of GDP. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Total annual general government spending on all levels of education, expressed as a percentage of GDP.