Lesotho's contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) was 0.83% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 0.06 percentage points from 0.77% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 0.83% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 0.95% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 0.77% | 2015 |
| Highest | 7.76% | 1991 |
| Lowest | 0.64% | 2016 |
| Average since 2016 | 0.8% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 7.76% | 1991 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Lesotho's contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) fell 0.05 percentage points on 2024 (from 0.88% to 0.83%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.19 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.17 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.16 percentage points in 2022 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.44 percentage points in 1992. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 29% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, Lesotho had the 126th highest value of the 182 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Lesotho | 0.83% | 2025 |
| World | 9.43% | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 17.07% | 2025 |
| Lower middle income | 14.48% | 2025 |
Closest to Lesotho in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
Contributing family workers are those workers who hold "self-employment jobs" as own-account workers in a market-oriented establishment operated by a related person living in the same household.
Limitations: Data are drawn from labor force surveys and household surveys, supplemented by official estimates and censuses for a small group of countries. Due to differences in definitions and coverage across countries, there are limitations for comparing data across countries and over time even within a country. Estimates of women in employment are not comparable internationally, reflecting that demographic, social, legal, and cultural trends and norms determine whether women's activities are regarded as economic.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 35 values
| Year | Contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.8333 |
| 2024 | 0.8823 |
| 2023 | 0.8935 |
| 2022 | 0.8128 |
| 2021 | 0.6515 |
| 2020 | 0.9515 |
| 2019 | 0.8979 |
| 2018 | 0.758 |
| 2017 | 0.6656 |
| 2016 | 0.6421 |
Contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) in nearby economies
- Angola — 16.03% (2025)
- Benin — 20.2% (2025)
- Botswana — 2.25% (2025)
- Burkina Faso — 26.55% (2025)
- Burundi — 37.42% (2025)
- Cabo Verde — 8.66% (2025)
- Cameroon — 5.03% (2025)
- Central African Republic — 17.81% (2025)
More social protection & labor data for Lesotho
- Net migration — -5,192 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 478 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 27 (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 23.8% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 45.46% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 34.63% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 50.49% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Lesotho's contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)?
- 0.83% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1991?
- It is down 6.93 percentage points from 7.76% in 1991. The highest value was 7.76% in 1991 and the lowest 0.64% in 2016.
- How does Lesotho rank?
- 126th highest of 182 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in contributing family workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) unusual for Lesotho?
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.FAM.WORK.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 17, 2026 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.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
Legal entity
Devansh Yadav
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Governing law: Courts at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Phone: +91 8433475698
Legal: legal@analyzeit.in