T1D Index estimates for 2025 · IDF Africa region · Lower-Middle-Income country
An estimated 760 people are living with type 1 diabetes in Lesotho in 2025. Each year about 107 people are newly diagnosed and 73 people with T1D die. A further 1,532 people would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes.
People living with T1D
760
New diagnoses this year
107
Deaths this year
73
Missing people
1,532
Expected age at death, diagnosed at 10
24.3years
How many people have type 1 diabetes in Lesotho?
760 people in Lesotho are living with type 1 diabetes in 2025, or 32.2 per 100,000 people. That is close to the Africa average of 29.7 per 100,000 and lower than the global average of 115.5. Lesotho has the 153rd-largest number of people living with T1D of the 202 countries in the T1D Index, and the 35th-largest of the 49 countries in the IDF Africa region.
For every 100 people living with T1D in Lesotho, another 202 are missing: people who would be alive today had they not died early from T1D.
Is type 1 diabetes increasing in Lesotho?
The number of people living with T1D in Lesotho went from 209 in 2000 to 760 in 2025, and is projected to rise to 1,395 by 2040 (+84%).
People living with type 1 diabetes in Lesotho, 2000–2040. Solid line: modelled estimates to 2025; dashed line: projection to 2040.
Type 1 diabetes in Lesotho over time, all ages
Year
Living with T1D
New diagnoses
Deaths
Missing people
2000
209
44
67
601
2010
282
65
52
937
2020
580
90
67
1,290
2025
760
107
73
1,532
2030 (projected)
978
140
96
1,839
2040 (projected)
1,395
149
115
2,621
What is the life expectancy with type 1 diabetes in Lesotho?
A 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Lesotho today is expected to live to 24.3, compared with 62.7 for a 10-year-old without T1D: 38.4 years of life lost. Counting years lived with complications as well, T1D costs 39.7 years of healthy life at today's level of care. If everyone received timely diagnosis, insulin and test strips, and insulin pumps and CGMs, that loss would fall to 16.4 years.
Healthy years of life for a 10-year-old diagnosed with T1D in Lesotho, as each level of care is added in turn
Level of care
Healthy years restored
Healthy years of life
Healthy years still lost
Current level of care
–
23.0
39.7
+ Timely diagnosis for everyone
+2.9
25.9
36.8
+ Insulin and test strips for everyone
+13.9
39.8
22.9
+ Insulin pumps and CGMs for everyone
+6.5
46.3
16.4
How does Lesotho compare?
Type 1 diabetes in Lesotho compared with the Africa region and the world, 2025
2025
Lesotho
Africa
World
People living with T1D per 100,000
32.2
29.7
115.5
New diagnoses per 100,000
4.5
4.0
6.2
Missing people per 100 living with T1D
201.6
160.4
43.0
Expected age at death, 10-year-old with T1D
24.3
24.4
51.3
Expected age at death, 10-year-old in general population
All figures are T1D Index version 3.0 estimates for all ages. Missing people are those who would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes. Expected age at death is for a 10-year-old. See Data & Methods for how the estimates are made and the peer-reviewed publications behind them.
