Botswana vs Lesotho: Democracy
Botswana
5
in 2025
Lesotho
5
in 2025
Botswana rank
1st
Lesotho rank
1st
Democracy over time
- Botswana
- Lesotho
How they compare
Botswana currently reports 5 against 5 in Lesotho, a difference of 0.
The two have swapped places 6 times across 126 shared years of data; in 1900 it was Lesotho ahead.
Botswana ranks 1st and Lesotho ranks 1st of 172 countries.
Across the 13 decades both report, Botswana averaged higher in 6 and Lesotho in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Botswana | Lesotho | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1910s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1920s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1930s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1940s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1950s | 1.1 | 1 | 0.1 | Botswana |
| 1960s | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | Botswana |
| 1970s | 4.1 | 0.8 | 3.3 | Botswana |
| 1980s | 4 | 1 | 3 | Botswana |
| 1990s | 4 | 1.5 | 2.5 | Botswana |
| 2000s | 4 | 3.3 | 0.7 | Botswana |
| 2010s | 3.5 | 3.9 | 0.4 | Lesotho |
| 2020s | 3.83 | 5 | 1.17 | Lesotho |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher democracy, Botswana or Lesotho?
- Botswana, at 5 against 5 in Lesotho as of 2025.
- What is the difference in democracy between Botswana and Lesotho?
- 0, with Botswana ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Botswana and Lesotho?
- 126 years are reported by both, from 1900 to 2025.
- How do Botswana and Lesotho rank globally for democracy?
- Botswana ranks 1st and Lesotho ranks 1st of 172 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Episodes of Regime Transformation (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Democracy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Political regime of a country using the classification by the Episodes of Regime Transformation-project. It distinguishes between hardening autocracies (score 0), stable autocracies (score 1), liberalizing autocracies (score 2), eroding democracies (score 3), stable democracies (score 4), and deepening democracies (score 5).