Matchup file

Eswatini vs Lesotho

107 shared metrics.

EswatiniLeads in 52

vs107 shared

LesothoLeads in 55

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Lesotho leads by 3 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

Eswatini

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Kingdom of Eswatini.

CIA 2026

Identity

Name origin: the country name derives from 19th century King MSWATI II, under whose rule Swati territory was expanded and unified.

CIA 2026

Lesotho

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Kingdom of Lesotho.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa, a rare country enclosed by just one neighbor.

Britannica

Analysis

Lesotho leads in 55 of 107 shared metrics, while Eswatini leads in 52.

Eswatini's Water Stress (%) is 47.3x that of Lesotho (40.45% vs 0.84%).

Eswatini's Irrigated Land is 40.7x that of Lesotho (500 km² vs 12 km²).

Eswatini's Forest Coverage (%) is 24.6x that of Lesotho (29.14% vs 1.1%).

Eswatini's Water Withdrawal is 23.4x that of Lesotho (1.1 B m³ vs 0.04 B m³).

Eswatini's Forest Area is 13.5x that of Lesotho (5.0K km² vs 345.2 km²).

Key Comparisons

Water Stress (%)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

40.45%

Lesotho

0.84%

Irrigated LandEswatini leads

Eswatini

500 km²

Lesotho

12 km²

Forest Coverage (%)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

29.14%

Lesotho

1.1%

Water WithdrawalEswatini leads

Eswatini

1.1 B m³

Lesotho

0.04 B m³

Forest AreaEswatini leads

Eswatini

5.0K km²

Lesotho

345.2 km²

Government Debt (% GDP)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

35.9% of GDP

Lesotho

3.0% of GDP

All Metrics

Water Stress (%)

Eswatini

40.45%

Lesotho

0.84%

4730% higher

Irrigated Land

Eswatini

500 km²

Lesotho

12 km²

4067% higher

Forest Coverage (%)

Eswatini

29.14%

Lesotho

1.1%

2463% higher

Water Withdrawal

Eswatini

1.1 B m³

Lesotho

0.04 B m³

2338% higher

Forest Area

Eswatini

5.0K km²

Lesotho

345.2 km²

1352% higher

Government Debt (% GDP)

Eswatini

35.9% of GDP

Lesotho

3.0% of GDP

1097% higher

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Eswatini

131.15 gCO2/kWh

Lesotho

20.83 gCO2/kWh

530% higher

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Eswatini

$11,799.2

Lesotho

$3,001.16

293% higher

High-Tech Exports (%)

Eswatini

0.29%

Lesotho

0.09%

218% higher

GNI Per Capita

Eswatini

$3,590

Lesotho

$1,180

204% higher

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Eswatini

41.4 per 100k

Lesotho

13.94 per 100k

197% higher

Electric Generating Capacity

Eswatini

285.0K kW

Lesotho

104.0K kW

174% higher

Insufficient Physical Activity

Eswatini

19.22% of adults

Lesotho

8.0% of adults

139% higher

Doctors (per 1,000)

Eswatini

0.56 per 1k

Lesotho

0.24 per 1k

133% higher

Milk Consumption per Person

Eswatini

56.6 kg/person/yr

Lesotho

25.35 kg/person/yr

123% higher

Youth Unemployment Rate

Eswatini

54.33% of youth labor force

Lesotho

24.67% of youth labor force

120% higher

GDP (Nominal)

Eswatini

$4,858,885,840.77

Lesotho

$2,271,759,454.51

114% higher

Unemployment Rate

Eswatini

34.4%

Lesotho

16.15%

113% higher

Health Spending Per Capita

Eswatini

$283.88

Lesotho

$133.7

112% higher

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Eswatini

140 per 100 people

Lesotho

70 per 100 people

100% higher

Comparison of Eswatini and Lesotho across 107 metrics
				Winner
Water Stress (%)	40.45%	0.84%	4730% higher	Eswatini
Irrigated Land	500 km²	12 km²	4067% higher	Eswatini
Forest Coverage (%)	29.14%	1.1%	2463% higher	Eswatini
Water Withdrawal	1.1 B m³	0.04 B m³	2338% higher	Eswatini
Forest Area	5.0K km²	345.2 km²	1352% higher	Eswatini
Government Debt (% GDP)	35.9% of GDP	3.0% of GDP	1097% higher	Eswatini
Electricity Carbon Intensity	131.15 gCO2/kWh	20.83 gCO2/kWh	530% higher	Eswatini
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$11,799.2	$3,001.16	293% higher	Eswatini
High-Tech Exports (%)	0.29%	0.09%	218% higher	Eswatini
GNI Per Capita	$3,590	$1,180	204% higher	Eswatini
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	41.4 per 100k	13.94 per 100k	197% higher	Eswatini
Electric Generating Capacity	285.0K kW	104.0K kW	174% higher	Eswatini
Insufficient Physical Activity	19.22% of adults	8.0% of adults	139% higher	Eswatini
Doctors (per 1,000)	0.56 per 1k	0.24 per 1k	133% higher	Eswatini
Milk Consumption per Person	56.6 kg/person/yr	25.35 kg/person/yr	123% higher	Eswatini
Youth Unemployment Rate	54.33% of youth labor force	24.67% of youth labor force	120% higher	Eswatini
GDP (Nominal)	$4,858,885,840.77	$2,271,759,454.51	114% higher	Eswatini
Unemployment Rate	34.4%	16.15%	113% higher	Eswatini
Health Spending Per Capita	$283.88	$133.7	112% higher	Eswatini
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	140 per 100 people	70 per 100 people	100% higher	Eswatini
Border Neighbors	2.0	1.0	100% higher	Eswatini
Broadband Access (%)	3.0 per 100 people	202 per 100 people	99% lower	Lesotho
Lowest Elevation	21 m	1.4K m	98% lower	Lesotho
Renewable Energy (%)	64.7%	34.9%	85% higher	Eswatini
Freedom of Expression Index	0.11	0.73	84% lower	Lesotho
Protected Land (%)	4.2%	23.4%	82% lower	Lesotho
Liberal Democracy Index	0.10	0.51	81% lower	Lesotho
Electoral Democracy Index	0.13	0.66	81% lower	Lesotho
Smoking Rate	9.5%	24.3%	61% lower	Lesotho
Tobacco Use Prevalence	10.7% of adults	26.6% of adults	60% lower	Lesotho
Alcohol Consumption	6.8 L/adult/yr	4.3 L/adult/yr	58% higher	Eswatini
Inflation Rate	2.6%	6.1%	57% lower	Lesotho
Airports	16	34	53% lower	Lesotho
Women's Political Empowerment	0.39	0.81	52% lower	Lesotho
Electricity Access (%)	86.4%	57.3%	51% higher	Eswatini
Land Border Length	546 km	1.1K km	51% lower	Lesotho
Time Zones Count	3.0 time zones	2.0 time zones	50% higher	Eswatini
Population	1.14M	2.22M	49% lower	Lesotho
Seafood Consumption per Person	4.2 kg/person/yr	2.9 kg/person/yr	48% higher	Eswatini
Highest Elevation	1.9K m	3.5K m	47% lower	Lesotho
Spirits Consumption	0.14 L/person/yr	0.27 L/person/yr	46% lower	Lesotho
Imports (% GDP)	53.72% of GDP	98.59% of GDP	46% lower	Lesotho
Land Area	17.2K km²	30.4K km²	43% lower	Lesotho
Health Spending (% GDP)	7.2% of GDP	12.65% of GDP	43% lower	Lesotho
Obesity Rate	27.31%	19.29%	42% higher	Eswatini
Urban Population (%)	26.25%	43.68%	40% lower	Lesotho
Informal Employment Share	53.3% of employed people	89.13% of employed people	40% lower	Lesotho
Corruption Perceptions Index	23 pts	37 pts	38% lower	Lesotho
Sanitation Access (%)	64.46%	47.89%	35% higher	Eswatini
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	24.35% of GDP	37.28% of GDP	35% lower	Lesotho
Beer Consumption	2.2 L/person/yr	1.7 L/person/yr	27% higher	Eswatini
Human Development Index	0.69	0.55	26% higher	Eswatini
Exports (% GDP)	53.76% of GDP	42.92% of GDP	25% higher	Eswatini
Child Mortality	45 per 1k births	58.9 per 1k births	24% lower	Lesotho
CO2 Per Capita	0.84 t/person/yr	1.1 t/person/yr	24% lower	Lesotho
Women in Senior Management	25.22% of managers	32.92% of managers	23% lower	Lesotho
Safe Drinking Water (%)	38.22%	31.32%	22% higher	Eswatini
Capital Elevation	1.2K m	1.6K m	22% lower	Lesotho
Internet Users (%)	58%	48%	21% higher	Eswatini
Infant Mortality	43.5 per 1k births	55.4 per 1k births	21% lower	Lesotho
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	18.78 µg/m³	23.44 µg/m³	20% lower	Lesotho
Death Rate	8.3 per 1k	10.2 per 1k	19% lower	Lesotho
Political Corruption Index	0.55	0.47	17% higher	Eswatini
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	10 days/yr	12 days/yr	17% lower	Lesotho
Electricity Generation	0.56 TWh	0.48 TWh	17% higher	Eswatini
Women in Parliament (%)	21.62%	25%	14% lower	Lesotho
Road Traffic Death Rate	24.7 per 100k	21.6 per 100k	14% higher	Eswatini
Average Weekly Work Hours	42.74 hrs/week	49.26 hrs/week	13% lower	Lesotho
Credit Card Ownership	5.0% of adults	4.4% of adults	13% higher	Eswatini
Firms with Female Top Manager	33.95% of firms	30.04% of firms	13% higher	Eswatini
Life Expectancy	64.1 years	57.4 years	12% higher	Eswatini
Agricultural Land (%)	69.48%	77.76%	11% lower	Lesotho
Life Evaluation Score	3.9 pts	4.4 pts	11% lower	Lesotho
Elderly Population (%)	4.3%	3.9%	11% higher	Eswatini
Scientific Publications	43.19	47.96	10% lower	Lesotho
Education Spending (% GDP)	6.0% of GDP	6.6% of GDP	9% lower	Lesotho
Total CO2 Emissions	1.1 Mt CO2e	1.0 Mt CO2e	9% higher	Eswatini
Firms Hit by Power Outages	58.49% of firms	64.55% of firms	9% lower	Lesotho
Hypertension Prevalence	43.7% of adults	40.6% of adults	8% higher	Eswatini
Military Spending	1.4% of GDP	1.6% of GDP	8% lower	Lesotho
Can Raise Emergency Money	71.57% of adults	77.4% of adults	8% lower	Lesotho
Population Density	71.54 /km²	76.14 /km²	6% lower	Lesotho
Fertility Rate	2.6 children/woman	2.5 children/woman	6% higher	Eswatini
Mobile Money Accounts	50.41% of adults	53.47% of adults	6% lower	Lesotho
Suicide Rate	27.23 per 100k	28.66 per 100k	5% lower	Lesotho
Birth Rate	20.66 per 1k	21.68 per 1k	5% lower	Lesotho
Digital Payments Used	61.22% of adults	58.35% of adults	5% higher	Eswatini
Firms Making Informal Payments	9.7% of firms	10.23% of firms	5% lower	Lesotho
Firms Asked for Bribes	7.6% of firms	7.3% of firms	4% higher	Eswatini
GDP Growth Rate	3.0%	2.9%	4% higher	Eswatini
Teen Birth Rate	68.73 per 1k	70.64 per 1k	3% lower	Lesotho
Dependency Ratio	60.29% of working-age pop.	62.27% of working-age pop.	3% lower	Lesotho
Median Age	22.0 years	21.4 years	3% higher	Eswatini
Youth Population (%)	33.35%	34.52%	3% lower	Lesotho
Coastline Length	0 km	0 km	ranked lower	Lesotho
Coal Electricity Share	3.3%	0%	ranked higher	Eswatini
Wind Electricity Share	0%	0%	ranked lower	Lesotho
Solar Electricity Share	4.9%	0%	ranked higher	Eswatini
Adult Literacy Rate	90.75%	90.45%	equal	Eswatini
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked lower	Lesotho
Official Languages Count	2.0	2.0	equal	Lesotho
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	-0.6% of GDP	-3.3% of GDP	ranked higher	Eswatini
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	1.6% of GDP	-0.55% of GDP	ranked higher	Eswatini
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	0 sites	1.0 sites	ranked lower	Lesotho
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 100k people	0 per 100k people	ranked lower	Lesotho
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked lower	Lesotho
Food Waste per Person	129.76 kg/person/yr	130.18 kg/person/yr	equal	Lesotho

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Eswatini Lesotho

Analysis

Lesotho leads in 55 of 107 shared metrics, while Eswatini leads in 52.

Eswatini's Water Stress (%) is 47.3x that of Lesotho (40.45% vs 0.84%).

Eswatini's Irrigated Land is 40.7x that of Lesotho (500 km² vs 12 km²).

Eswatini's Forest Coverage (%) is 24.6x that of Lesotho (29.14% vs 1.1%).

Eswatini's Water Withdrawal is 23.4x that of Lesotho (1.1 B m³ vs 0.04 B m³).

Eswatini's Forest Area is 13.5x that of Lesotho (5.0K km² vs 345.2 km²).

Key Comparisons

Water Stress (%)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

40.45%

Lesotho

0.84%

Irrigated LandEswatini leads

Eswatini

500 km²

Lesotho

12 km²

Forest Coverage (%)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

29.14%

Lesotho

1.1%

Water WithdrawalEswatini leads

Eswatini

1.1 B m³

Lesotho

0.04 B m³

Forest AreaEswatini leads

Eswatini

5.0K km²

Lesotho

345.2 km²

Government Debt (% GDP)Eswatini leads

Eswatini

35.9% of GDP

Lesotho

3.0% of GDP

Water Stress (%)

40.45%

0.84%

Irrigated Land

500 km²

12 km²

Forest Coverage (%)

29.14%

1.1%

Water Withdrawal

1.1 B m³

0.04 B m³

Forest Area

5.0K km²

345.2 km²

Government Debt (% GDP)

35.9% of GDP

3.0% of GDP

Electricity Carbon Intensity

131.15 gCO2/kWh

20.83 gCO2/kWh

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

$11,799.2

$3,001.16

High-Tech Exports (%)

0.29%

0.09%

GNI Per Capita

$3,590

$1,180

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

41.4 per 100k

13.94 per 100k

Electric Generating Capacity

285.0K kW

104.0K kW

Insufficient Physical Activity

19.22% of adults

8.0% of adults

Doctors (per 1,000)

0.56 per 1k

0.24 per 1k

Milk Consumption per Person

56.6 kg/person/yr

25.35 kg/person/yr

Youth Unemployment Rate

54.33% of youth labor force

24.67% of youth labor force

GDP (Nominal)

$4,858,885,840.77

$2,271,759,454.51

Unemployment Rate

34.4%

16.15%

Health Spending Per Capita

$283.88

$133.7

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

140 per 100 people

70 per 100 people

Eswatini vs Lesotho

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What matters for both sides

Eswatini

Lesotho

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Water Stress (%)

Irrigated Land

Forest Coverage (%)

Water Withdrawal

Forest Area

Government Debt (% GDP)

Electricity Carbon Intensity

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

High-Tech Exports (%)

GNI Per Capita

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Electric Generating Capacity

Insufficient Physical Activity

Doctors (per 1,000)

Milk Consumption per Person

Youth Unemployment Rate

GDP (Nominal)

Unemployment Rate

Health Spending Per Capita

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Border Neighbors

Broadband Access (%)

Lowest Elevation

Renewable Energy (%)

Freedom of Expression Index

Protected Land (%)

Liberal Democracy Index

Electoral Democracy Index

Smoking Rate

Tobacco Use Prevalence

Alcohol Consumption

Inflation Rate

Airports

Women's Political Empowerment

Electricity Access (%)

Land Border Length

Time Zones Count

Population

Seafood Consumption per Person

Highest Elevation

Spirits Consumption

Imports (% GDP)

Land Area

Health Spending (% GDP)

Obesity Rate

Urban Population (%)

Informal Employment Share

Corruption Perceptions Index

Sanitation Access (%)

Tax Revenue (% GDP)

Beer Consumption

Human Development Index

Exports (% GDP)

Child Mortality

CO2 Per Capita

Women in Senior Management

Safe Drinking Water (%)

Capital Elevation

Internet Users (%)

Infant Mortality

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

Death Rate

Political Corruption Index

Minimum Paid Vacation Days

Electricity Generation

Women in Parliament (%)

Road Traffic Death Rate

Average Weekly Work Hours

Credit Card Ownership

Firms with Female Top Manager

Life Expectancy

Agricultural Land (%)