Lesotho

Summary

Lesotho is a country in Africa that is home to 2,194,000 people. It is also home to 3 living indigenous languages. One of these, Southern Sotho, is an official language of the country. In addition, 2 living non-indigenous languages are established within the country. One of these, English, is also an official language of the country. In formal education, 1 indigenous language is used as a language of instruction.

At a Glance

Geography
Clickable world globe showing country outlines
Demographics
2,194,000
people
3
living languages
79%
literate
Language Vitality Count
1. Institutional
  1
2. Stable
  2
3. Endangered
  0
4. Extinct
  0
Details
This graph shows the profile of languages in Lesotho with respect to their level of language vitality.
Institutional — The language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community.
Stable — The language is not being sustained by formal institutions, but it is still the norm in the home and community that all children learn and use the language.
Endangered — It is no longer the norm that children learn and use this language.
Extinct - The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language.
These four summary levels have been derived by grouping levels in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), which is the more fine-grained scale that Ethnologue uses to assess the status of every language in terms of development versus endangerment; see Language Status for a description of the levels of that scale. See also the pages on Development and Endangerment for more discussion.