Lesotho's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) was 1.46% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 45.48 percentage points from 46.94% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 1.46% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 0.22% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 46.94% | 2014 |
| Highest | 46.94% | 2014 |
| Lowest | 0.00702% | 2000 |
| Average since 2015 | 3.57% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 0.00702% | 2000 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Lesotho's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 1.28 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.18% to 1.46%).
Across the 20 yearly changes before that (2001 to 2023), the average change was −0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 12.7 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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 42.83 percentage points in 2014 and the biggest yearly fall was 31.17 percentage points in 2016. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 26% 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 2024, Lesotho had the 24th highest value of the 36 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 | 1.46% | 2024 |
| World | 4% | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 14.15% | 2025 |
| Lower middle income | 4.57% | 2025 |
Closest to Lesotho in the 2024 ranking
What this measures
Ores and metals comprise the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 27 (crude fertilizer, minerals nes); 28 (metalliferous ores, scrap); and 68 (non-ferrous metals). Exports of services are services provided by residents to non-residents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise exports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e.
Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 23 values
| Year | Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.46 |
| 2023 | 0.1786 |
| 2022 | 0.1906 |
| 2021 | 0.1923 |
| 2020 | 0.1796 |
| 2019 | 0.2232 |
| 2018 | 1.24 |
| 2017 | 0.3292 |
| 2016 | 0.2575 |
| 2015 | 31.43 |
| 2014 |
Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) in nearby economies
- Angola — 5.91% (2025)
- Benin — 0.07% (2024)
- Botswana — 10.75% (2023)
- Burkina Faso — 0.25% (2024)
- Burundi — 1.9% (2023)
- Cabo Verde — 0.0000583% (2023)
- Cameroon — 2.21% (2023)
- Central African Republic — 6.32% (2024)
- Comoros — 1.23% (2023)
- Congo, Dem. Rep.
More private sector & trade data for Lesotho
- Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 102.89% (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.88 billion (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$773 million (2025)
- Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) — 2.34% (2025)
- Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service imports) — 8.72% (2025)
- Commercial service imports (current US$) — US$460.39 million (2025)
- Transport services (% of commercial service imports) — 11.28% (2025)
- Travel services (% of commercial service imports) — 77.67% (2025)
- Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Lesotho's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)?
- 1.46% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 2000?
- It is up 1.45 percentage points from 0.00702% in 2000. The highest value was 46.94% in 2014 and the lowest 0.00702% in 2000.
- How does Lesotho rank?
- 24th highest of 36 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) unusual for Lesotho?
- In 2024, Lesotho's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 1.28 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.18% to 1.46%). Across the 20 yearly changes before that (2001 to 2023), the average change was −0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 12.7 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.MMTL.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) 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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