Main page Compare countries Index countries Index fields

Query:
##ciekawa_strona##

Compare Western Sahara (2001) - Arctic Ocean (2005)

Compare Western Sahara (2001) z Arctic Ocean (2005)

 Western Sahara (2001)Arctic Ocean (2005)
 Western SaharaArctic Ocean
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:
266,000 sq km

land:
266,000 sq km

water:
0 sq km		 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
Area - comparative about the size of Colorado slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Background 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. 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.
Budget revenues:
$NA

expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA		 -
Capital none -
Climate hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew 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
Coastline 1,110 km 45,389 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 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 some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Economic aid - recipient $NA -
Economy - overview 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. Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.
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:
Sebjet Tah -55 m

highest point:
unnamed location 463 m		 lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m


highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues sparse water and lack of arable land endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack
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 24 30 N, 13 00 W 90 00 N, 0 00 E
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 Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle
Map references Africa Arctic Region
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 hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely restricting visibility 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
Natural resources phosphates, iron ore sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)
Political pressure groups and leaders none -
Population 250,559 (July 2001 est.) -
Population below poverty line NA% -
Ports and harbors Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun) Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US)
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 mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that, on average, is about 3 meters thick, although pressure ridges may be three times that thickness; 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)
Transportation - note - sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways
Unemployment rate NA% -
Waterways none -
Sitemap: Compare countries listing (map site) | Country listing (map site)
Links: Add to favorites | Information about this website | Stats | Polityka prywatnosci
This page was generated in ##czas## s. Size this page: ##rozmiar_strony## kB.