National / Regional Profiles
Included Nations/Regions: Lesotho [x], Southern Africa [x], The World [x]
Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1
Religion Indexes (Lesotho)
|
State Funding of Religion Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 96/253 |
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 148/253 |
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 145/253 |
State Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 163/253 |
Lesotho: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Baha'is, Hindus, Muslims, Nonreligious.
Lesotho: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Agnostics, Atheists, doubly-affiliated, Saktists, Shaivites, Shias, Sunnis, Vaishnavites.
Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2
| Religion | Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'is | 0.89% | 0.50% | 0.11% |
| Buddhists | --- | 0.37% | 6.83% |
| --Mahayanists | --- | 0.37% | 4.89% |
| --Theravadins | --- | --- | 1.72% |
| --Lamaists | --- | --- | 0.23% |
| Chinese folk-religionists | --- | 0.16% | 5.98% |
| Christians | 92.14% | 82.17% | 32.16% |
| --unaffiliated Christians | 8.64% | 12.11% | 1.46% |
| --Orthodox | --- | 0.04% | 3.75% |
| --Catholics | 54.85% | 8.43% | 15.90% |
| --Protestants | 35.38% | 23.98% | 7.51% |
| --Independents | 10.60% | 38.89% | 5.00% |
| Daoists | --- | --- | 0.11% |
| Confucianists | --- | 0.05% | 0.11% |
| Ethnic religionists | 6.61% | 7.84% | 3.65% |
| Hindus | 0.06% | 2.10% | 13.58% |
| --Vaishnavites | 0.02% | 0.69% | 5.15% |
| --Shaivites | 0.02% | 0.90% | 4.86% |
| --Saktists | 0.02% | 0.51% | 3.57% |
| Jains | --- | 0.00% | 0.08% |
| Jews | --- | 0.10% | 0.19% |
| Muslims | 0.05% | 1.55% | 24.20% |
| --Sunnis | 0.04% | 1.53% | 21.56% |
| --Shias | 0.01% | 0.03% | 2.44% |
| --Islamic schismatics | --- | --- | 0.21% |
| New religionists | --- | 0.03% | 0.85% |
| Shintoists | --- | --- | 0.04% |
| Sikhs | --- | 0.02% | 0.34% |
| Spiritists | --- | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Zoroastrians | --- | --- | 0.00% |
| Non-Religious | 0.26% | 5.09% | 11.57% |
| --Agnostics | 0.24% | 4.85% | 9.65% |
| --Atheists | 0.03% | 0.24% | 1.92% |
Religious demographics (Lesotho)3
The country has an area of 11,720 square miles and a population of 1.9 million. Christianity is the dominant religion. The Christian Council of Lesotho, made up of representatives of all major Christian churches in the country, estimates that approximately 90 percent of the population is Christian. Roman Catholics represent 45 percent of the population, Lesotho Evangelicals 26 percent, and Anglican and other Christian groups such as the Seventh-day Adventist, American Methodist Episcopal, Dutch Reformed Church, Lesotho Methodist, and Pentecostal churches constitute an additional 19 percent. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'i, and members of traditional indigenous religions constitute the remaining 10 percent of the population.
While Christians can be found throughout the country, Muslims live primarily in Butha-Buthe district, in the north. Many Christians practice their traditional cultural beliefs and rituals in conjunction with Christianity.
Summary Information |
Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Southern Africa | The World | -- |
| Total Population4 | 2,128,796 | 60,635,054 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Area in square miles | 11,720 | 1,031,985 | 196,939,900 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 53.6 | 60.4 | 71.9 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 3,390.0 | 10,232.0 | 16,101.0 |
| Description of Polity Score6 | (democratic) | -- | -- |
| Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| Official Religion(s)8 | None | -- | -- |
Religion and the State
Religion and State Collection (2014) |
Lesotho [x] |
|---|---|
| Is proselytizing Legal?1 | Yes |
| Is religious registration someties denied?1 | There is no registration requirement |
| What are the consequences of registration?1 | Groups need not register but registration is allowed or encouraged. This encouragement may include benefits given only to registered religions. |
| Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 | Accommodation |
| The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 | Optional, or there is a choice between a religion and a non-religion course on topics like ethics, philosophy, or religions of the world. |
| The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 | Government funding of religion goes to only some religions for which there are a substantial number of adherents in the country. |
| The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 | Some or all officials must take an oath of office which includes mention of God or religion in general. |
Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]
Features of Constitution |
Lesotho [x] |
|---|---|
| Is there a constitution?9 | Yes |
| Does the constitution state an official religion?10 | not stated |
| Does the constitution provide for freedom of religion?10 | yes [ Section 13(1) ] |
| Does the constitution protect religious equality/non-discrimination?10 | yes [ Sections 4(1), 18(3) ] |
Constitution |
Lesotho [x] |
|---|---|
| Constitution Year10 | 1993 |
| Last Amended10 | 2011 |
| Source10 | Constitute Project |
| Translation10 | Original is in English. |
| Current as of10 | August 27, 2018 |
Socio-Economic Measures
Education |
Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Literacy Rate, in percentage of adult population12 | 79.4 | 93.0 | 86.2 |
| Net Primary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | 80.2 | 84.8 | 89.6 |
| Net Secondary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | 37.1 | 49.5 | 65.1 |
Economic Measures |
Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Domestic Product, in billions of current U.S. Dollars5 | 2.3 | 328.0 | 75,845.1 |
| Imports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 1,908.2 | 105,732.5 | 20,150,355.0 |
| Exports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 940.5 | 104,326.4 | 20,790,015.7 |
| Economic Freedom Index, scaled from 0 min to 100 max14 | 53.9 | 62.0 | 62.9 |
| Human Development Index15 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| 2013 Gender Inequality Index (GII)16 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 3,390.0 | 10,232.0 | 16,101.0 |
Military Measures |
Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 117 | 0.0000813 | 0.00149238 | 0.005162584 |
| 2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 | 2.3 | 1.4 | -- |
Demographic and Health Measures |
Lesotho [x] |
Southern Africa [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Population4 | 2,128,796 | 60,635,054 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 53.6 | 60.4 | 71.9 |
| 2012 Net Migration Rate (migrants per 1,000 population)5 | -20.0 | -109.3 | -- |
| Urban Percentage of Total Population13 | 27.8 | 62.1 | 54.3 |
| Urban Population Growth, by percentage13 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Fertility Rate, in total births per woman13 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 2.5 |
| Infant Mortality Rate, in deaths per 1000 live births13 | 72.4 | 36.2 | 30.5 |
| HIV Prevalence, in percentage of population ages 15-49 with HIV13 | 25.0 | 19.2 | 0.8 |
Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society
Constitution Clauses Related to Religion
Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Lesotho)10
Section 4. Fundamental human rights and freedoms.
(1) Whereas every person in Lesotho is entitled, whatever his ... religion ... to fundamental human rights and freedoms, that is to say, to each and all of the following---
[Here follow enumerated rights, including:]
(i) freedom of conscience;
...
...
Section 13. Freedom of conscience.
(1) Every person shall be entitled to, and (except with his own consent) shall not be hindered in his enjoyment of, freedom of conscience, including freedom of thought and of religion, freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others, and both in public and in private, to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
(2) Every religious community shall be entitled, at its own expense, to establish and maintain places of education and to manage any place of education which it wholly maintains; and no such community shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for persons of that community in the course of any education provided at any places of education which it wholly maintains or in the course of any education which it otherwise provides.
(3) Except with his own consent (or, if he is a minor, the consent of his guardian), no person attending any place of education shall be required to receive religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if that instruction, ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own.
(4) No person shall be compelled to take any oath which is contrary to his religion or belief or to take any oath in a manner which is contrary to his religion or belief.
(5) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the law in question makes provision---
(a) in the interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or
(b) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons, including the right to observe and practice any religion without the unsolicited intervention of members of any other religion.
(6) A person shall not be permitted to rely in any judicial proceedings upon such a provision of law as is referred to in subsection (5) except to the extent to which he satisfies the court that that provision or, as the case may be, the thing done under the authority thereof does not abridge the rights and freedoms guaranteed by this section to a greater extent than is necessary in a practical sense in a democratic society in the interests of any of the matters specified in subsection (5)(a) or for the purpose specified in subsection (5)(b).
(7) Reference in this section to a religion shall be construed as including references to a religious denomination, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.
Section 16. Freedom of association.
(1) Every person shall be entitled to, and (except with his own consent) shall not be hindered in his enjoyment of freedom to associate freely with other persons for ... religious ... and similar purposes.
...
Section 18. Freedom from discrimination.
[Prohibits discriminatory legislation and treatment]
(3) In this section, the expression "discriminatory" means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions by ... religion ... whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject or are accorded privileges or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description.
(4) Subsection (1) shall not apply to any law to the extent that that law makes provision---
...
(b) for the application, in the case of persons of any such description as is mentioned in subsection (3) (or of persons connected with such persons), of the law with respect to adoption, marriage, divorce, burial, devolution of property on death or other like matters which is the personal law of persons of that description; ...
...
(5) [The technical exceptions based on standards of qualifications cannot include:] ... standards of qualifications specifically relating to ... religion ...
...
Section 26. Equality and justice.
(1) Lesotho shall adopt policies aimed at promoting a society based on equality and justice for all its citizens regardless of ... religion ...
[A provision for affirmative action follows]
Variable Details
Sources
1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).
3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.
5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.
7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.
8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.
9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at
11 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
12 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.
13 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
14 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
15 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
16 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
17 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
18 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.
19 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
