Names: conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho conventional short form: Lesotho local long form: Kingdom of Lesotho local short form: Lesotho former: Basutoland

Capital City: Maseru

Population: 2,022,331 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $2,600 (2006 est.)

Currency: loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)

Languages: Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa

Total Area: total: 30,355 sq km land: 30,355 sq km water: 0 sq km slightly smaller than Maryland

Region: Africa

Industries: food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism

Agriculture: corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

Resources: water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone

Labor Force: 838,000 (2000)
agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa industry and services: 14%

Exports: $779.1 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)
manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000)

Imports: $1.401 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000)

Overview: Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, also generating royalties for Lesotho. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly, mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $7,200 in goods to Lesotho. This ranks Lesotho 196^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Lesotho increased from the previous year by $7,200 a change of NA. State exports to Lesotho have increased over the last 5 years by 7,200 a change of NA. Missouri exports account for .00%. of all 2007 US exports to Lesotho.