Compare South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2002) - Western Sahara (2007)

Compare South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2002) z Western Sahara (2007)

	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2002)	Western Sahara (2007)

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	none (2001)	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: 3,903 sq km land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of some nine islands	total: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly larger than Rhode Island	about the size of Colorado
Background	The islands lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908 except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. The famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. The islands have large bird and seal populations and, recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 NM to 200 NM around each island.	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.
Birth rate	-	NA
Budget	-	revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA
Capital	-	none time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow	hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew
Coastline	NA km	1,110 km
Constitution	adopted 3 October 1985	-
Country name	conventional long form: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands conventional short form: none	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, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen ELIZABETH II; Grytviken, formerly a whaling station on South Georgia, is a scientific base	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)	none
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)	none
Disputes - international	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands occupied briefly by Argentina in 1982; islands continue to be claimed by Argentina	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	Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting fin fish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly.	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	85 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - production by source	fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA%	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 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 - 8.7722 (2006), 8.865 (2005), 8.868 (2004), 9.5744 (2003), 11.0206 (2002)
Executive branch	-	none
Exports	-	NA bbl/day
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	the flag of the UK is used	-
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: 40%
GDP - real growth rate	-	NA%
Geographic coordinates	54 30 S, 37 00 W	24 30 N, 13 00 W
Geography - note	the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 21st century, live on South Georgia	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas
Household income or consumption by percentage share	-	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Imports	-	NA bbl/day
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% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen) (1998 est.)	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; the senior magistrate from the Falkland Islands presides over the Magistrates Court	-
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: NA male: NA female: NA
Literacy	-	NA
Location	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America	Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco
Map references	Antarctic Region	Africa
Maritime claims	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM	contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK	-
National holiday	Liberation Day, 14 June (1982)	-
Nationality	-	noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s) adjective: Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Natural hazards	the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism	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	fish	phosphates, iron ore
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	none
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001, to be replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey, which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited (July 2002 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	Grytviken	-
Radio broadcast stations	0 (2003)	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: NA domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken	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	0 (2003)	NA
Terrain	most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes	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%
Waterways	none	-

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