Compare Indian Ocean (2002) - Western Sahara (2008)

Compare Indian Ocean (2002) z Western Sahara (2008)

	Indian Ocean (2002)	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	-	9 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	-	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: 68.556 million sq km note: includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Strait of Malacca, and other tributary water bodies	total: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	about 5.5 times the size of the US	about the size of Colorado
Background	The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60 degrees south.	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	northeast monsoon (December to April), southwest monsoon (June to October); tropical cyclones occur during May/June and October/November in the northern Indian Ocean and January/February in the southern Indian Ocean	hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew
Coastline	66,526 km	1,110 km
Country name	-	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara
Death rate	-	NA
Debt - external	-	$NA
Diplomatic representation from the US	-	none
Diplomatic representation in the US	-	none
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)	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	The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia. An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.	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	-	79.05 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	-	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	-	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	-	85 million kWh (2005)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 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 the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea	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	-	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
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: 40%
GDP - real growth rate	-	NA%
Geographic coordinates	20 00 S, 80 00 E	24 30 N, 13 00 W
Geography - note	major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the Lombok Strait	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas
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	-	NA
Labor force	-	12,000
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 50% industry and services: 50%
Land boundaries	-	total: 2,046 km border countries: Algeria 42 km, Mauritania 1,561 km, Morocco 443 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0.02% permanent crops: 0% other: 99.98% (2005)
Languages	-	Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: NA male: NA female: NA
Literacy	-	NA
Location	body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia	Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco
Map references	Political Map of the World	Africa
Maritime claims	-	contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue
Nationality	-	noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s) adjective: Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Natural hazards	occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in southern reaches	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	oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules	phosphates, iron ore
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	none
Population	-	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	Chennai (Madras; India), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Durban (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kolkata (Calcutta; India) Melbourne (Australia), Mumbai (Bombay; India), Richards Bay (South Africa)	-
Radio broadcast stations	-	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: 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	-	about 2,000 (1999 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular	-	0 (1999)
Television broadcast stations	-	NA
Terrain	surface dominated by counterclockwise gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge	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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