Lesotho vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Merchandise trade to GDP ratio

Lesotho
159.0%
in 2011
Sub-Saharan Africa
73.2%
in 2011
Lesotho rank
1st
Sub-Saharan Africa rank
3rd

Merchandise trade to GDP ratio over time

  • Lesotho
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
50100150200196019852011

How they compare

Lesotho currently reports 159.0% against 73.2% in Sub-Saharan Africa, a difference of 85.8%.

That makes Lesotho's figure about 2.2 times Sub-Saharan Africa's.

Across all 52 years both countries report, Lesotho has been ahead every year.

Lesotho ranks 1st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 3rd of 53 countries.

Lesotho has averaged higher in every one of the 6 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Lesotho Sub-Saharan Africa Difference Ahead
1960s 63.9% 46.1% 17.8% Lesotho
1970s 104.0% 48.9% 55.0% Lesotho
1980s 155.8% 50.9% 104.9% Lesotho
1990s 156.1% 55.1% 101.0% Lesotho
2000s 180.7% 68.3% 112.3% Lesotho
2010s 158.4% 70.2% 88.1% Lesotho

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher merchandise trade to gdp ratio, Lesotho or Sub-Saharan Africa?
Lesotho, at 159.0% against 73.2% in Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2011.
What is the difference in merchandise trade to gdp ratio between Lesotho and Sub-Saharan Africa?
85.8%, with Lesotho ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Lesotho and Sub-Saharan Africa?
52 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2011.
How do Lesotho and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for merchandise trade to gdp ratio?
Lesotho ranks 1st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 3rd of 53 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Bank country economists, published as Merchandise trade to GDP ratio (%). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Lesotho vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Merchandise trade to GDP ratio. Statizoid, drawing on World Bank country economists. Retrieved 12 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/merchandise-trade-to-gdp-ratio-percent/lesotho/sub-saharan-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/merchandise-trade-to-gdp-ratio-percent/lesotho/sub-saharan-africa/">Lesotho vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Merchandise trade to GDP ratio</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Merchandise trade to GDP ratio (%)
Unit
%
Source
World Bank country economists
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
59 places, 2,599 data points, 1960–2011
Last refreshed

Merchandise trade as a share of GDP is the sum of merchandise exports and imports divided by the value of GDP, all in current US dollars and from the national accounts.