Editor’s Note
This profile provides key facts about Botswana, including its official name, government type, and head of state. Information is presented for general reference.
Official Name: Republic of Botswana
Government Type: Presidential Republic
Head of State: Duma Boko (since November 1, 2024)
Area: 581,730 km²
Capital: Gaborone
Major Cities: Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole
Official Languages: English and Setswana
Population: 2.7 million inhabitants
Population Growth Rate: +1.7%
Life Expectancy: 69.2 years
Literacy Rate: 94%
Human Development Index: 0.708; 114th/192
Religions: Christianity (79%); and presence of other small Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist communities
Botswana is a stable parliamentary democracy. The country is often cited as an example for its good governance and strong democratic culture.
Botswana experienced a major political turning point during the general elections on October 30, 2024. The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) coalition, the main center-left opposition party, surprisingly won an absolute majority in Parliament (36 out of 61 seats), allowing its leader, Duma Boko, to assume the presidency. This historic alternation, which ended 58 years of uninterrupted rule by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) amid significant public fatigue with the outgoing government, does not, however, reflect a clear increase in the coalition’s electoral score (37.22% in 2024 compared to 35.9% in 2019), but is primarily a consequence of the electoral system (first-past-the-post).
This political change is not accompanied by a clear economic mandate. The electoral program of the coalition, which brings together three parties with diverse ideological orientations, presents a heterogeneous catalog of sometimes contradictory measures, and internal tensions are already perceptible within the alliance government. Botswana also continues to face long-term structural challenges: high unemployment, marked inequalities, and persistent poverty.
Botswana maintains a modest but active diplomacy. It hosts the headquarters of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It maintains particularly close relations with South Africa for historical, geographical, and economic reasons, as its economy is intrinsically linked to South Africa’s through the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). South Africa is by far its main trading partner (77% of the market) and the largest foreign investor (80% of the stock). The country no longer has major territorial disputes with its neighbors since the International Court of Justice ruling on the Caprivi Strip, disputed with Namibia (1999), and the border demarcation treaty signed with the same country in February 2018.
Regarding the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Botswana has consistently denounced Russian actions and reaffirmed its commitment to international law and respect for territorial integrity. President Boko reaffirmed this stance upon his re-election. Nevertheless, Botswana abstained during the vote on the resolution supporting Ukraine in February 2025 at the United Nations General Assembly.
Cooperation with the European Union is significant, particularly in the education sector. Botswana coordinated, within SADC, the negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-SADC EPA) signed in July 2014, allowing Botswana’s products to maintain duty-free and quota-free access to the European market.
While the economy grew by 3.2% in 2023, Botswana’s economy contracted by 3.0% in 2024, hit hard by difficulties in the mining sector (-27.2% in 2024), in a context marked by a slowdown in global demand and falling diamond prices. The economy also suffered from a severe drought due to the El Niño phenomenon, which severely affected the agricultural sector (-2.1%). Only the dynamism of the services sector (+4.4%) helped limit the contraction.
In the short term, difficulties in the mining sector are expected to persist. The sector faces unfavorable price conditions in an uncertain international environment (International Diamond Index Price down 4% in the first half of 2025, and nearly 42% since the peak in March 2022). Furthermore, the traceability measures implemented by the G7 since March 1, 2024, to exclude Russian diamonds from the market seem to be penalizing Botswana’s activity. In this context, Debswana (a joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers) reduced its production by 27% in 2024 to 17.93 million carats and plans a further 16% decrease to 15 million carats in 2025. The IMF thus anticipates another economic contraction in 2025 (forecast of -0.4%), before a rebound to +2.3% in 2026.