The Comedores escolares school meals programme

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7. Lesotho: Taking advantage of good economic conditions

and strong political will to increase social protection

7.1. Country profile

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small landlocked country of southern Africa with a total surface area of 30,355 square kilometres. It has a single neighbour, South Africa, which surrounds the kingdom on all sides. Lesotho became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966. Politically speaking, Lesotho is a parliamentary system with a Constitutional monarchy. The total population in Lesotho was estimated at 2,067,000 inhabitants in 2009 United Nations-Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Population growth has averaged 1.8 per cent per year since 1960 but the annual rate has oscillated since 1982, declining for a while, recovering and then dropping off again. Since 1998 population growth has been lower each successive year; between 2004 and 2008 the average growth rate was 0.92 per cent figure 46. Figure 46. Lesotho: Population growth rate, 1960-2008 Source: United Nations-Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2010. The median age of the population in Lesotho is 22.6 years, with a projected 25.2 years by 2025. Fifty-five per cent of the population is under 25 years of age, but this group is expected to decline to 49 per cent by 2025. Over the next 15 years the country will experience a transition to a more mature society in which the 35 to 49 year-old age bracket will increase its share from 12.6 per cent to 20.3 per cent of the total population. People over 65 years of age will not increase their share significantly and are expected to account for 5.9 per cent of the total in 2025. From an economic standpoint, contrary to what occurred in many countries in the southern part of Africa Mozambique and Botswana, for instance where the economy grew at impressive rates, Lesotho did not exhibit an outstanding macroeconomic performance or