World Development Indicators

Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum: Lesotho

Most recent: 478 (2025)
Earliest: 70 (1970)
Highest: 11,850 (1984)
Years reported: 41 of 56 in the span
Member state: Lesotho at the United Nations

Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum, 1970–2025. Bars, not a line: a line drawn across a year the source does not report would invent an observation a reader could not tell from a measured one.

The World Bank reports 41 of the 56 years between 1970 and 2025 for Lesotho. The missing 15 are drawn as gaps, because a gap is what they are.

Every year reported

Year	Refugees hosted (UNHCR mandate)
2025	478
2024	419
2023	319
2022	251
2021	296
2020	271
2019	143
2018	56
2017	55
2016	46
2015	31
2014	43
2013	29
2012	33
2011	38
2001	39
1994	57
1993	60
1992	117
1991	220
1990	212
1989	4,248
1988	4,230
1987	4,000
1986	11,500
1985	11,500
1984	11,850
1983	11,500
1982	11,500
1981	11,500
1980	10,000
1979	690
1978	990
1977	1,130
1976	900
1975	190
1974	190
1973	180
1972	60
1971	190
1970	70

World Bank, World Development Indicators — SM.POP.RHCR.EA, available under CC BY 4.0.

Where this page comes from

World Bank Open Data — CC BY 4.0 · source