Income inequality: Atkinson index in Lesotho
Lesotho: Income inequality: Atkinson index was 0.5143 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Income inequality: Atkinson index in Lesotho, 2010–2023
Source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Lesotho recorded 0.5143 for income inequality: atkinson index in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 14 years on record.
The figure is down 18.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality: atkinson index in Lesotho peaked at 0.6304 in 2010 and was at its lowest, 0.5143, in 2018.
That places Lesotho 12th out of 174 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 14 years of available data.
Income inequality: Atkinson index in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 0.6304 | — |
| 2011 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 0.6304 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.5143 | -18.4% |
| 2019 | 0.5143 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 0.5143 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 0.5143 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 0.5143 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.5143 | +0.0% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 0.5143 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.3514, 1.5× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 0.5143 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.4345, 1.2× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.6072 | 0.5143 | 0.6304 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.5143 | 0.5143 | 0.5143 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More poverty & inequality data for Lesotho
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 1 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 2.69 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 804.1 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 10.32 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 30.43 (2022)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 30.4% (2022)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality: atkinson index in Lesotho?
- Income inequality: atkinson index in Lesotho was 0.5143 in 2023, according to UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality: atkinson index recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 0.6304 in 2010.
- What is the lowest income inequality: atkinson index recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5143 in 2018.
- How does Lesotho rank for income inequality: atkinson index?
- Lesotho ranks 12th out of 174 countries with data for 2023.
- Is income inequality: atkinson index rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 18.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality: Atkinson index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Atkinson index measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Depending on the country and year, the data relates to income measured after taxes and benefits, or to consumption, per capita.