Population in Lesotho compared to South Africa: Trends, Charts, Rankings

Lesotho and South Africa: population history and growth rate by year chart

Table

Year	Population		Growth rate
	Lesotho	South Africa	Lesotho	South Africa
1960	736,500	16,440,172	-	-
1961	758,824	16,908,035	3.03%	2.85%
1962	781,814	17,418,522	3.03%	3.02%
1963	805,373	17,954,564	3.01%	3.08%
1964	829,437	18,511,361	2.99%	3.1%
1965	854,090	19,089,380	2.97%	3.12%
1966	881,870	19,690,087	3.25%	3.15%
1967	913,982	20,314,066	3.64%	3.17%
1968	948,105	20,957,287	3.73%	3.17%
1969	983,202	21,614,676	3.7%	3.14%
1970	1,019,273	22,279,984	3.67%	3.08%
1971	1,056,246	22,942,143	3.63%	2.97%
1972	1,094,063	23,609,456	3.58%	2.91%
1973	1,132,697	24,294,263	3.53%	2.9%
1974	1,172,420	24,989,108	3.51%	2.86%
1975	1,213,643	25,690,940	3.52%	2.81%
1976	1,253,214	26,395,450	3.26%	2.74%
1977	1,289,967	27,118,952	2.93%	2.74%
1978	1,327,240	27,869,507	2.89%	2.77%
1979	1,366,169	28,634,162	2.93%	2.74%
1980	1,406,521	29,518,857	2.95%	3.09%
1981	1,448,069	30,541,044	2.95%	3.46%
1982	1,490,732	31,615,339	2.95%	3.52%
1983	1,534,413	32,739,304	2.93%	3.56%
1984	1,578,986	33,892,788	2.9%	3.52%
1985	1,624,379	35,042,093	2.87%	3.39%
1986	1,666,138	36,180,515	2.57%	3.25%
1987	1,703,390	37,326,190	2.24%	3.17%
1988	1,739,841	38,480,649	2.14%	3.09%
1989	1,775,436	39,628,575	2.05%	2.98%
1990	1,809,696	40,746,268	1.93%	2.82%
1991	1,842,379	41,687,898	1.81%	2.31%
1992	1,873,274	42,443,509	1.68%	1.81%
1993	1,901,793	43,297,156	1.52%	2.01%
1994	1,927,707	44,004,139	1.36%	1.63%
1995	1,951,437	44,541,554	1.23%	1.22%
1996	1,972,418	45,123,018	1.08%	1.31%
1997	1,988,130	45,666,838	0.8%	1.21%
1998	1,998,049	46,223,880	0.5%	1.22%
1999	2,003,234	46,730,335	0.26%	1.1%
2000	2,003,913	47,159,719	0.03%	0.92%
2001	2,000,853	47,566,800	-0.15%	0.86%
2002	1,994,679	48,019,415	-0.31%	0.95%
2003	1,985,059	48,500,348	-0.48%	1%
2004	1,971,129	48,991,421	-0.7%	1.01%
2005	1,953,076	49,490,033	-0.92%	1.02%
2006	1,945,063	49,998,277	-0.41%	1.03%
2007	1,953,268	50,528,584	0.42%	1.06%
2008	1,966,541	51,114,599	0.68%	1.16%
2009	1,980,883	51,728,516	0.73%	1.2%
2010	1,996,251	52,344,051	0.78%	1.19%
2011	2,014,009	52,995,205	0.89%	1.24%
2012	2,034,354	53,782,567	1.01%	1.49%
2013	2,056,504	54,678,791	1.09%	1.67%
2014	2,080,089	55,594,838	1.15%	1.68%
2015	2,104,611	56,723,537	1.18%	2.03%
2016	2,130,422	57,259,551	1.23%	0.94%
2017	2,157,110	57,635,162	1.25%	0.66%
2018	2,183,603	58,613,001	1.23%	1.7%
2019	2,209,405	59,587,885	1.18%	1.66%
2020	2,235,727	60,562,381	1.19%	1.64%
2021	2,261,542	61,502,603	1.15%	1.55%
2022	2,286,110	62,378,410	1.09%	1.42%
2023	2,311,472	63,212,384	1.11%	1.34%
2024	2,337,423	64,007,187	1.12%	1.26%
2025	2,363,324	64,747,317	1.11%	1.16%
2026	2,389,334	65,453,086	1.1%	1.09%
2027	2,415,365	66,143,018	1.09%	1.05%
2028	2,441,435	66,830,384	1.08%	1.04%
2029	2,467,677	67,506,850	1.07%	1.01%
2030	2,493,816	68,161,357	1.06%	0.97%
2031	2,520,014	68,798,574	1.05%	0.93%
2032	2,546,489	69,426,441	1.05%	0.91%
2033	2,573,106	70,040,484	1.05%	0.88%
2034	2,599,777	70,641,572	1.04%	0.86%
2035	2,626,560	71,234,749	1.03%	0.84%
2036	2,653,503	71,816,372	1.03%	0.82%
2037	2,680,081	72,387,807	1%	0.8%
2038	2,706,197	72,949,611	0.97%	0.78%
2039	2,732,138	73,496,152	0.96%	0.75%
2040	2,757,868	74,035,615	0.94%	0.73%
2041	2,783,361	74,575,444	0.92%	0.73%
2042	2,808,538	75,111,899	0.9%	0.72%
2043	2,833,257	75,641,512	0.88%	0.71%
2044	2,857,499	76,164,461	0.86%	0.69%
2045	2,881,333	76,681,448	0.83%	0.68%
2046	2,904,780	77,199,542	0.81%	0.68%
2047	2,927,859	77,716,650	0.79%	0.67%
2048	2,950,411	78,215,323	0.77%	0.64%
2049	2,972,156	78,699,584	0.74%	0.62%
2050	2,993,080	79,177,329	0.7%	0.61%

From 2005 to 2015, the population of Lesotho increased by 151,535 people (a 7.76% growth), while South Africa gained 7,233,504 people (a 14.6% growth).

For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, Lesotho gained 279,606 (a 13.3% growth), while South Africa's population increased by 8,590,709 (a 15.1% growth).

Lesotho was ranked 144th most populous country in 2005 and is still 144th in 2025. South Africa was ranked 24th in 2005 and still ranked 24th now.

The UN's World Population Prospects forecasts that with changing growth rate trends in 25 years (in 2050) Lesotho's population will grow by 25.5% to 2,993,080 people with a rank change from 144th to 141st. The population of South Africa will increase by 21.2% to 79,177,329 people and rank change from 24th to 23rd.