Political Rights Score in Lesotho
Lesotho: Political Rights Score was 31 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in Lesotho, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for political rights score in Lesotho is 31, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of up 3.3% on the previous year and up 10.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Lesotho peaked at 31 in 2003 and was at its lowest, 27, in 2016.
That places Lesotho 76th out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 30 | — |
| 2003 | 31 | +3.3% |
| 2004 | 31 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 31 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 30 | -3.2% |
| 2007 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 29 | -3.3% |
| 2010 | 29 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 28 | -3.4% |
| 2012 | 31 | +10.7% |
| 2013 | 31 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 30 | -3.2% |
| 2015 | 28 | -6.7% |
| 2016 | 27 | -3.6% |
| 2017 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 30 | +11.1% |
| 2023 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 31 | +3.3% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 31 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 15, 2.1× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 31 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 10.5, 3.0× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 30.25 | 29 | 31 | 8 |
| 2010s | 28.5 | 27 | 31 | 10 |
| 2020s | 29.17 | 27 | 31 | 6 |
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 political rights score in Lesotho?
- Political rights score in Lesotho was 31 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 31 in 2003.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 27 in 2016.
- How does Lesotho rank for political rights score?
- Lesotho ranks 76th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is up 10.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Political Rights Score. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Identifies the fine-grained extent of free and fair elections, political pluralism and participation, and a functioning government. Higher scores indicate more rights.