The Kingdom of Eswatini has denied reports that it was offering nationality to citizens from southern Africa to fill up for shortage of men in the country.

It follows a viral fake letter purportedly written by King Mswati III expressing concern with "scarcity of men" in the kingdom.

The letter claimed the king would facilitate the willing men from southern Africa to marry wives and get free houses from the kingdom.

"The public is notified that this circulating notice is fake," the Eswatini government said in a short statement posted on X.

It is not clear who authored the fake letter which had excited some social media users from southern Africa.

Eswatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy, has a population of about 1.2 million people.