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Lesotho is a unique country, but this uniqueness does
not only stem from being landlocked, poor or small.
Instead, this derives from the country’s geographic
position. However, Lesotho is not the only landlocked
country facing long land transit to the nearest
accessible seaport. In fact, the 720-kilometer distance
from Maseru to Durban’s port compares rather favorably
with the 2,050 kilometers land transit facing exporters
from Chad. Furthermore, Lesotho’s exports transit only
the territory of a single country on their way to the
nearest port.
According to the United Nations Development Programme,
Lesotho ranked 149th position among 207 economies. Even
its alpine location with no lowlands below 1,400 meters
in altitude, albeit rather atypical and earning Lesotho
the name ‘Mountain Kingdom,’ is not completely unique,
as other countries have similar characteristics (e.g.,
Nepal). Its population of 1.8 million people does not
make Lesotho unique either, as there are at least 14
other countries in the world with similar or smaller
populations, although most of them are not land-locked.
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