Lesotho: Access to electricity, urban (% of urban population)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Lesotho's access to electricity, urban (% of urban population) rose 0.2 percentage points on 2023 (from 85% to 85.2%).

Across the 23 yearly changes before that (2001 to 2023), the average change was +3.1 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.15 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 12 percentage points in 2010. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2.56 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 98% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 94.42% for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.48%, against 4% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2024, Lesotho had the 186th highest value of the 212 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Lesotho in the 2024 ranking

• Gambia, The — 183rd of 212: 85.6%
• Haiti — 184th of 212: 85.6%
• Nigeria — 185th of 212: 85.5%
• Tanzania — 187th of 212: 85.2%
• Zimbabwe — 188th of 212: 85.1%
• Solomon Islands — 189th of 212: 82.3%

What this measures

Access to electricity, urban is the percentage of urban population with access to electricity.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 25 values

Access to electricity, urban (% of urban population) in nearby economies

• Angola — 78% (2024)
• Benin — 71.6% (2024)
• Botswana — 96.7% (2024)
• Burkina Faso — 87.8% (2024)
• Burundi — 70% (2024)
• Cabo Verde — 98.6% (2024)
• Cameroon — 95.6% (2024)
• Central African Republic — 38.8% (2024)
• Chad — 51% (2024)
• Comoros

More environment data for Lesotho

• Rural population — 1.31 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 55.33% (2025)
• Urban population — 1.06 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 44.67% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 2,107 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 74 (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons) — 2,181 (2024)
• Rural population growth (annual %) — -0.67% (2025)
• Urban population growth (annual %) — 3.35% (2025)
• Fertilizer consumption (kilograms per hectare of arable land) — 6.09 (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Lesotho's access to electricity, urban (% of urban population)?

85.2% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2000?

It is up 71.6 percentage points from 13.6% in 2000. The highest value was 85.2% in 2024 and the lowest 13.6% in 2000.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EG.ELC.ACCS.UR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB), uri: https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/downloads, note: Data is downloaded from ESMAP website. Data is released when a new Tracking SDG7 report is released., publisher: World Bank (WB), date accessed: 2024-05-16, date published: 2023 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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