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Compare Arctic Ocean (2001) - Western Sahara (2001)

Compare Arctic Ocean (2001) z Western Sahara (2001)

 Arctic Ocean (2001)Western Sahara (2001)
 Arctic OceanWestern Sahara
Administrative divisions - none (under de facto control of Morocco)
Age structure - 0-14 years:
NA%

15-64 years:
NA%

65 years and over:
NA%
Agriculture - products - fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats (kept by nomads)
Airports - 11 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways - total:
3

2,438 to 3,047 m:
3 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways - total:
8

1,524 to 2,437 m:
1

914 to 1,523 m:
4

under 914 m:
3 (2000 est.)
Area total:
14.056 million sq km

note:
includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies
total:
266,000 sq km

land:
266,000 sq km

water:
0 sq km
Area - comparative slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US about the size of Colorado
Background The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the Arctic Ocean. Morocco virtually annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara) in 1976, and the rest of the territory in 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Rabat's sovereignty ended in a 1991 cease-fire; a referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed and is not expected to occur until at least 2002.
Budget - revenues:
$NA

expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Capital - none
Climate polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew
Coastline 45,389 km 1,110 km
Country name - conventional long form:
none

conventional short form:
Western Sahara

former:
Spanish Sahara
Currency - Moroccan dirham (MAD)
Debt - external - $NA
Diplomatic representation from the US - none
Diplomatic representation in the US - none
Disputes - international some maritime disputes (see littoral states) claimed and administered by Morocco, but sovereignty is unresolved and the UN is attempting to hold a referendum on the issue; the UN-administered cease-fire has been in effect since September 1991
Economic aid - recipient - $NA
Economy - overview Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals. Western Sahara, a territory poor in natural resources and lacking sufficient rainfall, depends on pastoral nomadism, fishing, and phosphate mining as the principal sources of income for the population. Most of the food for the urban population must be imported. All trade and other economic activities are controlled by the Moroccan Government. Incomes and standards of living are substantially below the Moroccan level.
Electricity - consumption - 83.7 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports - 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports - 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - production - 90 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source - fossil fuel:
100%

hydro:
0%

nuclear:
0%

other:
0% (1999)
Elevation extremes lowest point:
Fram Basin -4,665 m

highest point:
sea level 0 m
lowest point:
Sebjet Tah -55 m

highest point:
unnamed location 463 m
Environment - current issues endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack sparse water and lack of arable land
Environment - international agreements - party to:
none of the selected agreements

signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups - Arab, Berber
Exchange rates - Moroccan dirhams per US dollar - 10.590 (January 2001), 10.626 (2000), 9.804 (1999), 9.604 (1998), 9.527 (1997), 8.716 (1996)
Executive branch - none
Exports - $NA
Exports - commodities - phosphates 62%
Exports - partners - Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included in overall Moroccan accounts
Fiscal year - calendar year
GDP - purchasing power parity - $NA
GDP - composition by sector - agriculture:
NA%

industry:
NA%

services:
40%-45% (1996 est.)
GDP - per capita - purchasing power parity - $NA
GDP - real growth rate - NA%
Geographic coordinates 90 00 N, 0 00 E 24 30 N, 13 00 W
Geography - note major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about 10 months -
Heliports - 1 (2000 est.)
Highways - total:
6,200 km

paved:
1,350 km

unpaved:
4,850 km (1991 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10%:
NA%

highest 10%:
NA%
Imports - $NA
Imports - commodities - fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs
Imports - partners - Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included in overall Moroccan accounts
Industrial production growth rate - NA%
Industries - phosphate mining, handicrafts
Inflation rate (consumer prices) - NA%
International organization participation - none
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - 1 (2000)
Irrigated land - NA sq km
Labor force - 12,000
Labor force - by occupation - animal husbandry and subsistence farming 50%
Land boundaries - total:
2,046 km

border countries:
Algeria 42 km, Mauritania 1,561 km, Morocco 443 km
Land use - arable land:
0%

permanent crops:
0%

permanent pastures:
19%

forests and woodland:
0%

other:
81%
Languages - Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Literacy - definition:
NA

total population:
NA%

male:
NA%

female:
NA%
Location body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco
Map references Arctic Region Africa
Maritime claims - contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue
Military branches - NA
Military expenditures - dollar figure - $NA
Military expenditures - percent of GDP - NA%
Nationality - noun:
Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)

adjective:
Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Natural hazards ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely restricting visibility
Natural resources sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales) phosphates, iron ore
Political pressure groups and leaders - none
Population - 250,559 (July 2001 est.)
Population below poverty line - NA%
Ports and harbors Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US) Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun)
Radio broadcast stations - AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios - 56,000 (1997)
Railways - 0 km
Religions - Muslim
Suffrage - none; a UN-sponsored voter identification campaign has yet to be completed
Telephone system - general assessment:
sparse and limited system

domestic:
NA

international:
tied into Morocco's system by microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and satellite; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) linked to Rabat, Morocco
Telephones - main lines in use - about 2,000 (1999 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular - 0 (1999)
Television broadcast stations - NA
Terrain central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that averages about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure ridges may be three times that size; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge) mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast
Unemployment rate - NA%
Waterways - none
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