Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho
Lesotho: Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty was 31.2% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Latest (2023)
31.2%
Change on year
down 6.7%
World rank
16th
of 184 countries
All-time high
40.1%
in 2007
All-time low
7.5%
in 1970
Years of data
64
1960–2023
Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho, 1960–2023
Source: Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Lesotho recorded 31.2% for share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in 2023.
That represents a change of down 6.7% on the previous year and up 1.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho peaked at 40.1% in 2007 and was at its lowest, 7.5%, in 1970.
That places Lesotho 16th out of 184 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.
Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 10.4% | — |
| 1961 | 13.5% | +29.3% |
| 1962 | 12.0% | -11.2% |
| 1963 | 10.5% | -11.9% |
| 1964 | 9.6% | -8.5% |
| 1965 | 11.2% | +16.6% |
| 1966 | 7.7% | -31.5% |
| 1967 | 9.0% | +16.7% |
| 1968 | 8.1% | -9.3% |
| 1969 | 8.0% | -1.6% |
| 1970 | 7.5% | -5.8% |
| 1971 | 10.7% | +41.6% |
| 1972 | 11.1% | +3.8% |
| 1973 | 10.0% | -9.7% |
| 1974 | 11.3% | +13.3% |
| 1975 | 15.1% | +32.7% |
| 1976 | 12.6% | -16.3% |
| 1977 | 11.9% | -5.7% |
| 1978 | 13.7% | +15.7% |
| 1979 | 15.4% | +11.9% |
| 1980 | 22.8% | +48.0% |
| 1981 | 22.2% | -2.6% |
| 1982 | 21.8% | -1.6% |
| 1983 | 21.3% | -2.6% |
| 1984 | 21.3% | -0.0% |
| 1985 | 21.5% | +1.3% |
| 1986 | 23.3% | +8.4% |
| 1987 | 22.0% | -5.8% |
| 1988 | 19.8% | -9.9% |
| 1989 | 17.0% | -14.2% |
| 1990 | 15.3% | -9.9% |
| 1991 | 15.1% | -1.4% |
| 1992 | 16.4% | +8.5% |
| 1993 | 15.4% | -6.3% |
| 1994 | 16.8% | +9.5% |
| 1995 | 17.8% | +5.8% |
| 1996 | 15.4% | -13.4% |
| 1997 | 16.9% | +9.4% |
| 1998 | 22.8% | +35.1% |
| 1999 | 21.3% | -6.6% |
| 2000 | 23.1% | +8.6% |
| 2001 | 22.8% | -1.4% |
| 2002 | 25.4% | +11.6% |
| 2003 | 26.2% | +2.9% |
| 2004 | 25.1% | -3.9% |
| 2005 | 27.1% | +7.8% |
| 2006 | 26.5% | -2.1% |
| 2007 | 40.1% | +51.0% |
| 2008 | 33.9% | -15.5% |
| 2009 | 31.8% | -6.2% |
| 2010 | 33.0% | +3.9% |
| 2011 | 32.9% | -0.3% |
| 2012 | 29.9% | -9.2% |
| 2013 | 30.8% | +3.0% |
| 2014 | 30.3% | -1.5% |
| 2015 | 29.0% | -4.4% |
| 2016 | 30.8% | +6.2% |
| 2017 | 29.8% | -3.4% |
| 2018 | 31.4% | +5.4% |
| 2019 | 31.6% | +0.8% |
| 2020 | 31.4% | -0.9% |
| 2021 | 32.9% | +4.8% |
| 2022 | 33.5% | +1.9% |
| 2023 | 31.2% | -6.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 10.0% | 7.7% | 13.5% | 10 |
| 1970s | 11.9% | 7.5% | 15.4% | 10 |
| 1980s | 21.3% | 17.0% | 23.3% | 10 |
| 1990s | 17.3% | 15.1% | 22.8% | 10 |
| 2000s | 28.2% | 22.8% | 40.1% | 10 |
| 2010s | 31.0% | 29.0% | 33.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 32.2% | 31.2% | 33.5% | 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 share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho?
- Share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty in Lesotho was 31.2% in 2023, according to Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 40.1% in 2007.
- What is the lowest share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 7.5% in 1970.
- How does Lesotho rank for share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty?
- Lesotho ranks 16th out of 184 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of government consumption in gdp vs. share of population living in extreme poverty rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 64 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Government consumption divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.