© United Nations Development Programme and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation 2025
2024
global knowledge index
Lesotho
KEY INDICATORS
- GDP (US$ billions):5.868
- Population:2,311,472
- HDI:0.521
118/141
Gki
Score
36
World
Average
47.8
Country Performance Summary
Lesotho is a weak performer in terms of its knowledge infrastructure. It ranks 118th out of 141 countries in the Global Knowledge Index 2024 and 4th out of the 23 countries with low human development.
Areas of Strength
- Government expenditure on primary education (% GDP)
- Labour force participation rate with short-cycle tertiary education
- Manufacturing employment (%)
- Government funding per secondary student (% GDP per capita)
- Tax and contribution rate (% profit)
Areas of Improvement
- Teaching staff compensation (% tertiary expenditure)
- Enrolment in master's, doctoral or equivalent (%)
- Research institutions prominence
- Extent of corporate transparency
- Healthy life expectancy (years)
SECTORAL INDICES
Rank
Value
Pre-University
Education
106
49.59
Technical and Vocational
Education and Training
44
56.16
Higher
Education
117
34.57
Research, Development
and Innovation
134
18.02
Information and
Communications Technology
128
25.51
Economy
114
43.5
Enabling
Environment
118
42.77
Click the sectoral tab for a detailed overview.
GKI Pillars
