Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho

Lesotho: Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education was 10.4% in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
10.4%
Change on year
down 5.7%
World rank
144th
of 194 countries
All-time high
32.5%
in 2005
All-time low
10.4%
in 2024
Years of data
24
1983–2024

Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho, 1983–2024

1015202530351983200320241983: 29.4 %1984: 20.8 %1985: 22.9 %1988: 15.2 %1989: 15.4 %1993: 22.7 %1994: 18.4 %1995: 20.2 %1997: 26.1 %1999: 23.4 %2000: 19.1 %2001: 23 %2002: 23.5 %2003: 31.5 %2004: 27.2 %2005: 32.5 %2006: 29 %2008: 24.2 %2015: 13.9 %2016: 14 %2017: 15.1 %2018: 14.1 %2023: 11 %2024: 10.4 %

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.

Analysis

The most recent figure for share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho is 10.4%, measured in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.

That represents a change of down 5.7% on the previous year and down 25.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho peaked at 32.5% in 2005 and was at its lowest, 10.4%, in 2024.

That places Lesotho 144th out of 194 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1980s 20.7% 15.2% 29.4% 5
1990s 22.2% 18.4% 26.1% 5
2000s 26.2% 19.1% 32.5% 8
2010s 14.3% 13.9% 15.1% 4
2020s 10.7% 10.4% 11.0% 2

Countries ranked near Lesotho

  1. 141 Bahamas 10.6% compare
  2. 142 Indonesia 10.6% compare
  3. 143 Portugal 10.4% compare
  4. 145 Burundi 10.3% compare
  5. 146 Anguilla 10.3% compare
  6. 147 Czechia 10.0% compare

See the full ranking of 194 places →

More economy & growth data for Lesotho

All data for Lesotho →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho?
Share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Lesotho was 10.4% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education recorded in Lesotho?
The highest recorded value was 32.5% in 2005.
What is the lowest share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education recorded in Lesotho?
The lowest recorded value was 10.4% in 2024.
How does Lesotho rank for share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education?
Lesotho ranks 144th out of 194 countries with data for 2024.
Is share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education rising or falling in Lesotho?
Over the last ten years it is down 25.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
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 Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
194 places, 4,043 data points, 1980–2025
Last refreshed

Percentage of total general government spending (across all sectors) that is allocated to education.