AROUND 24.1 percent of the population in Lesotho lives in extreme poverty with half of the population living below the national poverty line.

This is according to the new Social Protection Programme and Systems Review, released by the World Bank Group.

 Lesotho’s national poverty rate is measured at the national poverty line of LSL 648.88 per adult equivalent per month. In absolute terms, this translates to 994 000 people living below the poverty line and 484 000 living in extreme poverty.

Therefore, one million Basotho do not live at a basic level of consumption sufficient to easily weather shocks, and half a million live at an extreme level of vulnerability.

The World Bank further reveals that the country’s poverty levels are relatively high for a Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) and lower middle income country, but low for Sub- Saharan Africa.

Using the cross-country comparable international poverty line of US$1.90 per day, 27.3 percent of Basotho were poor in 2017 compared with 14.2 percent for lower middle income countries in 2015.

Within Sub-Saharan Africa, however, 42.3 percent of the population was under the international poverty line while in the SACU region, Lesotho’s poverty rate is among the highest.

“Basotho suffer from both high inactivity and unemployment. Uncommonly is Sub- Saharan Africa, the labour force participation rate is very low in Lesotho,” the report shows.

Half of the working age population is not participating in the labour market, constituting a huge untapped potential for economic growth.

Despite a relatively low number of people actively looking for a job, approximately a quarter of the labour force is unemployed, with the youth being disproportionally affected by joblessness.

The Lesotho labour market is characterised by slow job growth according to the report and a prevalence of low productivity jobs.

Pre-COVID-19, during the last decade, job growth was on average only 1 percent per year, less than half of the annual growth rate of the working population.