Sub-Saharan Africa · Partial data: missing GF10, GF0107
Data checked 28 Oct 2026 · next scheduled check 1 Jan 2027 · UN World Population Prospects (via World Bank) released 1 Jul 2026 · World Bank WDI released 8 Oct 2026
Total spending · 2024
53.5%
+11.4 pts since 1995
Welfare · 2024
Not available
Healthcare · 2024
Not available
Defence · 2024
1.61%
-1.6 pts since 1995
Education · 2024
6.62%
-2.0 pts since 1995
Debt interest · 2024
Not available
Gross debt · 2025
49.4%
of GDP · -13 pts since 1995
Population · 2025
2.4m
21.1% since 1995
Public-sector employment
Not available: no official public-sector employment series is loaded for Lesotho yet.
Not available: general-government welfare (COFOG 10) and COFOG debt transactions (01.7). No matching official observation was found in the sources checked; narrower-sector or differently defined figures are not substituted.
Healthcare rose from 2.9% to 6.8% of GDP between 2000 and 2019, then fell to 5.8% by 2023.
Defence rose from 3.2% to 3.6% of GDP between 1995 and 1999, then fell to 1.6% by 2025.
Education rose from 8.6% to 13.2% of GDP between 1995 and 2003, then fell to 6.6% by 2024.
Total spending rose from 42.1% to 66.4% of GDP between 1995 and 2009, then fell to 53.5% by 2024.
Gross debt rose from 62.8% to 108.7% of GDP between 1995 and 2001, then fell to 49.4% by 2025.
Population grew from 2.0 million in 1995 to 2.4 million in 2025; the UN projects 3.0 million by 2050.