> In Lesotho, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 44% of the median living standard, 56 times the share it takes in the United States; for 96% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 52% of people use the internet.

[World](https://themodelindex.org/world/) /

Africa

AI access, cost and use · Southern Africa · Africa · data read 1 Oct 2026

# Lesotho

In Lesotho, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 44% of the median living standard, 56 times the share it takes in the United States; for 96% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 52% of people use the internet.

44%

of the median living standard for a $20 plan

Africa median 38% · United States 0.79%

96%

of people for whom the plan is over a tenth of their living standard

about 2.3 m people

3of 3

leading services officially offered

Claude · OpenAI · Gemini

52%

of people use the internet

world 74% · 2.4 m people

## The figures · Lesotho

People

2.4 m

Median living standard

$541a year per person · consumption

A $20 plan takes

44%of that · 56× the US share

For whom it is over a tenth

96%of people

Survey

2017revalued at 2025 prices

GNI per person

$1,280plan is 19% of it

Claude use per person

not reported

Notable AI models built here

0

## Officially offered here · 3 of 3

[Run it yourself →](https://themodelindex.org/local/)

Claude · claude.ai app

Yes

OpenAI · API

Yes

Gemini · web app

Yes

From each lab's own published list: Anthropic's Claude.ai countries, OpenAI's API countries and Google's Gemini web app countries. Not listed means not officially served; open-weight models can be run anywhere.

## Against Africa and the world · regional figures are medians or population-weighted

| MEASURE | LESOTHO | AFRICA | WORLD |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A $20 plan ÷ median living standard | 44% | 38% | 9.9% |
| People for whom it is over a tenth | 96% | 96% | 63% |
| Plan price ÷ GNI per person | 19% | 14% | 2.9% |
| People using the internet | 52% | 40% | 74% |
| Claude use per working-age person | not reported | 0.24× | 1.00× |
| Notable AI models built | 0 | 0 | 1,256 |

## Neighbours · Southern Africa · lightest burden first

| COUNTRY | PEOPLE | ONLINE | $20 PLAN ÷ MEDIAN LIVING STANDARD | OVER A TENTH | CLAUDE USE PER PERSON | OFFICIAL LISTS |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [South Africa](https://themodelindex.org/world/south-africa/) | 65 m | 78% | 19% | 73% | 0.46× | 3 of 3 |
| [Namibia](https://themodelindex.org/world/namibia/) | 3.1 m | 65% | 22% | 76% | 0.44× | 3 of 3 |
| [Botswana](https://themodelindex.org/world/botswana/) | 2.6 m | 57% | 24% | 79% | 0.52× | 3 of 3 |
| Lesotho | 2.4 m | 52% | 44% | 96% | not reported | 3 of 3 |
| [Eswatini](https://themodelindex.org/world/eswatini/) | 1.3 m | 63% | no estimate | – | not reported | 3 of 3 |

[All countries →](https://themodelindex.org/world/)

## The foundations · Lesotho against the world

[World Bank ↗](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator)

People using the internet

52%

world 74%

People with electricity

61%

world 92%

Mobile subscriptions per 100 people

70

world 112

Fixed broadband lines per 100 people

0.4

world 20.1

Enrolled in university-level education

10%

world 44%

Research spending, share of GDP

0.09%

world 2.6%

Researchers per million people

32

world 1,652

Secure internet servers per million people

86

world 16,381

The latest World Bank figure for each measure. The tick marks the world figure.

A $20-a-month plan ($240 a year, US list price) against the median household living standard per person in each country. The median is from the latest national household survey (World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform), revalued from 2021 purchasing-power dollars into US dollars at recent prices and official exchange rates, assuming real living standards have not changed since the survey. Some surveys measure income and others consumption, which includes food people grow and housing they own, so this is a living standard, not cash to spare. Countries with no survey since 2015 or no defensible exchange rate are left blank.

[World Bank household surveys ↗](https://pip.worldbank.org/) [Anthropic countries ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/supported-countries) [OpenAI countries ↗](https://platform.openai.com/docs/supported-countries) [Gemini countries ↗](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13575153) [Anthropic Economic Index ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report) [Epoch AI notable models ↗](https://epoch.ai/data/notable-ai-models)

---
Source: https://themodelindex.org/world/lesotho/ · The Model Index · data as of 2026-10-01