Import product diversification index in Lesotho
Lesotho: Import product diversification index was 0.5341 in 2011. ▲ Rising
Import product diversification index in Lesotho, 1995–2011
Source: UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/).
Analysis
Lesotho recorded 0.5341 for import product diversification index in 2011.
That represents a change of down 0.6% on the previous year and down 8.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, import product diversification index in Lesotho peaked at 0.7913 in 2007 and was at its lowest, 0.5134, in 2009.
That places Lesotho 14th out of 53 countries with data for 2011, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 17 years of available data.
Import product diversification index in Lesotho, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 0.5353 | — |
| 1996 | 0.5375 | +0.4% |
| 1997 | 0.5353 | -0.4% |
| 1998 | 0.5417 | +1.2% |
| 1999 | 0.5478 | +1.1% |
| 2000 | 0.5509 | +0.6% |
| 2001 | 0.5815 | +5.5% |
| 2002 | 0.5766 | -0.8% |
| 2003 | 0.5733 | -0.6% |
| 2004 | 0.6281 | +9.6% |
| 2005 | 0.7822 | +24.5% |
| 2006 | 0.7345 | -6.1% |
| 2007 | 0.7913 | +7.7% |
| 2008 | 0.5424 | -31.5% |
| 2009 | 0.5134 | -5.3% |
| 2010 | 0.5371 | +4.6% |
| 2011 | 0.5341 | -0.6% |
Lesotho compared with similar countries
- Lesotho's 0.5341 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.498, 1.1× the median. (24 countries reporting)
- Lesotho's 0.5341 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.5119, 1.0× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Import product diversification index in Lesotho changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | -31.5% | 0.7913 | 0.5424 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.5395 | 0.5353 | 0.5478 | 5 |
| 2000s | 0.6274 | 0.5134 | 0.7913 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.5356 | 0.5341 | 0.5371 | 2 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More trade data for Lesotho
- Commodity Net Export Price Index, Individual Commodities Weighted by 121.31 (2025)
- Commodity Net Export Price Index, Individual Commodities Weighted by 103.15 (2025)
- Commodity Export Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 99.45 (2025)
- Commodity Export Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 73.42 (2025)
- Commodity Import Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 96.41 (2025)
- Commodity Import Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 77.44 (2025)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, Percent of GDP 1.5 (2024)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), per 14.79 units per person (2024)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), per 0.0145 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Exports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), gaps 7.83 million (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is import product diversification index in Lesotho?
- Import product diversification index in Lesotho was 0.5341 in 2011, according to UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/).
- What is the highest import product diversification index recorded in Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 0.7913 in 2007.
- What is the lowest import product diversification index recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5134 in 2009.
- How does Lesotho rank for import product diversification index?
- Lesotho ranks 14th out of 53 countries with data for 2011.
- Is import product diversification index rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is down 8.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lesotho data come from?
- The figures come from UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/), published as part of Import product diversification index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 17 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
The diversification index signals whether the structure of imports by product of a given country or group of countries differ from the structure of product of the world. Diversification index that ranges from 0 to 1 reveals the extent of the differences between the structure of trade of the country or country group and the world average. The index value closer to 1 indicates a bigger difference from the world average. It is constructed as the inverse of a Herfindahl index, using disaggregated exports at 4 digits (following the STIC3). This index is a modified Finger-Kreinin measure of similarity in trade. For more information, please consult the article of Finger, J. M. and M. E. Kreinin (1979), “A measure of ‘export similarity’ and its possible uses” in the Economic Journal , 89: 905-12.