Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2005) - Western Sahara (2008)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2005) z Western Sahara (2008)

	British Indian Ocean Territory (2005)	Western Sahara (2008)

Administrative divisions	-	none (under de facto control of Morocco)
Age structure	-	0-14 years: 45.4% (male 88,176/female 85,421) 15-64 years: 52.3% (male 98,345/female 101,895) 65 years and over: 2.3% (male 3,705/female 5,075) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	-	fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats (kept by nomads); fish
Airports	1 (2004 est.)	9 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2004 est.)	total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	-	total: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2007)
Area	total: 60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago	total: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC	about the size of Colorado
Background	Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.	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 UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed. In April 2007, Morocco presented an autonomy plan for the territory to the UN, which the U.S. considers serious and credible. The Polisario also presented a plan to the UN in 2007. Since August 2007, representatives from the Government of Morocco and the Polisario Front have met three times to negotiate the status of Western Sahara, with a fourth round of negotiations planned for March 2008.
Birth rate	-	NA 39.95 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	-	revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA
Capital	-	none time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds	hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew
Coastline	698 km	1,110 km
Country name	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara
Death rate	-	NA
Debt - external	-	$NA
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none
Disputes - international	Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; the UK resists the Chagossians' demand for an immediate return to the islands; repatriation is complicated by the exclusive US military lease of Diego Garcia that restricts access to the largest island in the chain	Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, whose sovereignty remains unresolved; UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since September 1991, administered by the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties thus far have rejected all brokered proposals; several states have extended diplomatic relations to the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" represented by the Polisario Front in exile in Algeria, while others recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara; most of the approximately 102,000 Sahrawi refugees are sheltered in camps in Tindouf, Algeria
Economic aid - recipient	-	$NA
Economy - overview	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing.	Western Sahara depends on pastoral nomadism, fishing, and phosphate mining as the principal sources of income for the population. The territory lacks sufficient rainfall for sustainable agricultural production, and most of the food for the urban population must be imported. Incomes in Western Sahara are substantially below the Moroccan level. The Moroccan Government controls all trade and other economic activities in Western Sahara. Morocco and the EU signed a four-year agreement in July 2006 allowing European vessels to fish off the coast of Morocco, including the disputed waters off the coast of Western Sahara. Moroccan energy interests in 2001 signed contracts to explore for oil off the coast of Western Sahara, which has angered the Polisario. However, in 2006 the Polisario awarded similar exploration licenses in the disputed territory, which would come into force if Morocco and the Polisario resolve their dispute over Western Sahara.
Electricity - consumption	NA kWh	79.05 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	-	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	-	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military	85 million kWh (2005)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m	lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m highest point: unnamed location 463 m
Environment - current issues	NA	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 - 8.2827 (2007), 8.7722 (2006), 8.865 (2005), 8.868 (2004), 9.5744 (2003)
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Tony CROMBIE (since January 2004); Administrator Tony HUMPHRIES (since February 2005); note - both reside in the UK cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch	none
Exports	-	0 bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities	-	phosphates 62%
Exports - partners	-	Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included in overall Moroccan accounts (2006)
Fiscal year	-	calendar year
Flag description	white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag	-
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: 40%
GDP - real growth rate	-	NA%
Geographic coordinates	6 00 S, 71 30 E	24 30 N, 13 00 W
Geography - note	archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas
Highways	total: NA km paved: short section of paved road between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km	-
Household income or consumption by percentage share	-	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Imports	-	1,698 bbl/day (2004)
Imports - commodities	-	fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs
Imports - partners	-	Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included in overall Moroccan accounts (2006)
Industrial production growth rate	-	NA%
Industries	-	phosphate mining, handicrafts
Infant mortality rate	-	total: NA male: NA female: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	-	NA%
International organization participation	-	none
Irrigated land	0 sq km (1998 est.)	NA
Labor force	-	12,000
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 50% industry and services: 50%
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 2,046 km border countries: Algeria 42 km, Mauritania 1,561 km, Morocco 443 km
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2001)	arable land: 0.02% permanent crops: 0% other: 99.98% (2005)
Languages	-	Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply	-
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: NA male: NA female: NA
Literacy	-	NA
Location	archipelago in the Indian Ocean, south of India, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia	Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco
Map references	Political Map of the World	Africa
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 3 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm	contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016	-
Nationality	-	noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s) adjective: Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Natural hazards	NA	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	coconuts, fish, sugarcane	phosphates, iron ore
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	none
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles in the 1960s and 1970s, in November 2000 they were granted the right of return by a British High Court ruling, though no timetable has been set; in 2001, there were approximately 1,500 UK and US military personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2005 est.)	382,617 note: estimate is based on projections by age, sex, fertility, mortality, and migration; fertility and mortality are based on data from neighboring countries (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	-	NA%
Population growth rate	-	NA
Ports and harbors	Diego Garcia	-
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)	AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)
Religions	-	Muslim
Sex ratio	-	NA
Suffrage	-	none; a UN-sponsored voter identification campaign not yet completed
Telephone system	general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)	general assessment: sparse and limited system domestic: NA international: country code - 212; 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	NA	about 2,000 (1999 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular	-	0 (1999)
Television broadcast stations	1 (1997)	NA
Terrain	flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation)	mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast
Total fertility rate	-	NA
Unemployment rate	-	NA%

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