Lesotho People - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Population: 1,552,000 (July 1986), average annual growth rate 2.6%

Nationality-noun—Mosotho (sing.), Basotho (pl.); adjective—Basotho

Ethnic divisions: 99.7% Sotho; l,600Euro-peans, 800 Asians

Religion. 80% Christian, rest indigenous beliefs

Language: Sesotho (southern Sotho) and English (official); also Zulu and Xhosa

Infant mortality rate-104.3/1,000(1983)

Life expec tancy: 51.5

Literacy: 60%

Labor force: 426,000 economically active (1976); 87.4% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; 150,000-250,000 spend from six months to many years as wage earners in South Africa

Organized labor: negligible

NOTE: The information regarding Lesotho on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Lesotho 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Lesotho 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.