Citizen support for democracy in Lesotho
Lesotho: Citizen support for democracy was -0.8851 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Lesotho, 2000–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Lesotho stood at -0.8851.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.2% on the previous year and down 74.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Lesotho peaked at -0.2544 in 2005 and was at its lowest, -1.04, in 2000.
That places Lesotho 105th out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 21 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | -1.04 | — |
| 2001 | -0.8315 | -20.1% |
| 2002 | -0.6208 | -25.3% |
| 2003 | -0.4197 | -32.4% |
| 2004 | -0.3407 | -18.8% |
| 2005 | -0.2544 | -25.3% |
| 2006 | -0.3892 | +53.0% |
| 2007 | -0.5307 | +36.3% |
| 2008 | -0.6746 | +27.1% |
| 2009 | -0.587 | -13.0% |
| 2010 | -0.5081 | -13.4% |
| 2011 | -0.4299 | -15.4% |
| 2012 | -0.3524 | -18.0% |
| 2013 | -0.4541 | +28.9% |
| 2014 | -0.5591 | +23.1% |
| 2015 | -0.6681 | +19.5% |
| 2016 | -0.7773 | +16.3% |
| 2017 | -0.8793 | +13.1% |
| 2018 | -0.8897 | +1.2% |
| 2019 | -0.8834 | -0.7% |
| 2020 | -0.8851 | +0.2% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's -0.8851 is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is -0.6191, 1.4× the median. (35 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's -0.8851 is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.019. (34 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | -0.5689 | -1.04 | -0.2544 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.6401 | -0.8897 | -0.3524 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.8851 | -0.8851 | -0.8851 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More social development data for Lesotho
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 478 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 27 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 27 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0002 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen support for democracy in Lesotho?
- Citizen support for democracy in Lesotho was -0.8851 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was -0.2544 in 2005.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.04 in 2000.
- How does Lesotho rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Lesotho ranks 105th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 74.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Citizen support for democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the average extent to which citizens support a democratic political system and reject autocratic alternatives. It combines responses across more than one thousand nationally-representative surveys on how desirable citizens find democracy, how they evaluate undemocratic alternatives (such as a strong unelected leader, the army, or religious authorities), and how they assess democratic and autocratic political systems relative to another.