Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Lesotho
Lesotho: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was 4.8% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Lesotho, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Lesotho recorded 4.8% for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in 2023. That is the highest value across all 53 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1,213.6% on the previous year and up 314.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Lesotho peaked at 4.8% in 2023 and was at its lowest, -11.3%, in 1977.
That places Lesotho 37th out of 225 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | -8.4% | — |
| 1972 | -8.4% | +0.2% |
| 1973 | -8.4% | -0.0% |
| 1974 | -8.5% | +0.8% |
| 1975 | -7.8% | -7.8% |
| 1976 | -8.7% | +10.7% |
| 1977 | -11.3% | +29.9% |
| 1978 | -9.5% | -15.9% |
| 1979 | -6.8% | -28.0% |
| 1980 | -5.4% | -20.9% |
| 1981 | -2.6% | -51.4% |
| 1982 | -2.8% | +8.3% |
| 1983 | -3.1% | +7.5% |
| 1984 | -2.5% | -19.4% |
| 1985 | -2.9% | +16.4% |
| 1986 | -2.9% | +0.7% |
| 1987 | 1.7% | -157.5% |
| 1988 | 2.2% | +31.5% |
| 1989 | -0.2% | -107.9% |
| 1990 | 1.1% | -728.5% |
| 1991 | 0.9% | -16.2% |
| 1992 | 1.9% | +110.4% |
| 1993 | 2.1% | +7.1% |
| 1994 | 1.2% | -40.8% |
| 1995 | 0.7% | -43.0% |
| 1996 | 1.5% | +120.4% |
| 1997 | -0.0% | -102.8% |
| 1998 | -0.6% | +1292.2% |
| 1999 | 1.0% | -274.3% |
| 2000 | 0.6% | -46.2% |
| 2001 | 0.5% | -15.5% |
| 2002 | -1.4% | -389.3% |
| 2003 | -1.3% | -6.2% |
| 2004 | -0.6% | -49.9% |
| 2005 | 0.1% | -120.0% |
| 2006 | -0.8% | -732.8% |
| 2007 | 0.0% | -100.0% |
| 2008 | 1.4% | — |
| 2009 | 0.4% | -69.7% |
| 2010 | -0.3% | -179.8% |
| 2011 | -0.9% | +175.0% |
| 2012 | -0.8% | -13.9% |
| 2013 | -2.3% | +177.5% |
| 2014 | -1.6% | -27.7% |
| 2015 | -4.5% | +174.3% |
| 2016 | 2.1% | -147.5% |
| 2017 | 3.8% | +79.9% |
| 2018 | 3.0% | -21.0% |
| 2019 | -7.9% | -361.5% |
| 2020 | 1.0% | -112.7% |
| 2021 | -3.6% | -455.1% |
| 2022 | -0.4% | -87.9% |
| 2023 | 4.8% | -1213.6% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 4.8% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 1.1%, 4.3× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 4.8% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.9%, 5.4× the median. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Lesotho changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | -1292.2% | -0.0% | -0.6% |
| 2023 | +1213.6% | -0.4% | 4.8% |
| 2006 | -732.8% | 0.1% | -0.8% |
| 1990 | +728.5% | -0.2% | 1.1% |
| 2021 | -455.1% | 1.0% | -3.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | -8.6% | -11.3% | -6.8% | 9 |
| 1980s | -1.8% | -5.4% | 2.2% | 10 |
| 1990s | 1.0% | -0.6% | 2.1% | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.1% | -1.4% | 1.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.9% | -7.9% | 3.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.5% | -3.6% | 4.8% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More agriculture & rural data for Lesotho
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 5.38 % change on previous year (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.0649 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 70.63 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate -0.6715 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0005 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.5533 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 6.5% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 6.5% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 5.1% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.0% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Lesotho?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Lesotho was 4.8% in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 4.8% in 2023.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was -11.3% in 1977.
- How does Lesotho rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Lesotho ranks 37th out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is up 314.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 53 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage change in surface area devoted to agriculture with respect to 10 years before. Negative values imply that surface area has decreased with respect to the previous decade. This data is used to assess which countries may have already peaked in their agricultural land use.