Western Sahara (2002) | Atlantic Ocean (2002) | |
Administrative divisions | none (under de facto control of Morocco) | - |
Age structure | 0-14 years: NA%
15-64 years: NA% 65 years and over: NA% |
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Agriculture - products | fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats (kept by nomads) | - |
Airports | 11 (2001) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2002) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 8
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 3 (2002) |
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Area | total: 266,000 sq km
land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 76.762 million sq km
note: includes Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, almost all of the Scotia Sea, and other tributary water bodies |
Area - comparative | about the size of Colorado | slightly less than 6.5 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. | The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, but larger than the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean). The Kiel Canal (Germany), Oresund (Denmark-Sweden), Bosporus (Turkey), Strait of Gibraltar (Morocco-Spain), and the St. Lawrence Seaway (Canada-US) are important strategic access waterways. The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth world ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Atlantic Ocean south of 60 degrees south. |
Birth rate | NA births/1,000 population | - |
Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA |
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Capital | none | - |
Climate | hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew | tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop off the coast of Africa near Cape Verde and move westward into the Caribbean Sea; hurricanes can occur from May to December, but are most frequent from August to November |
Coastline | 1,110 km | 111,866 km |
Country name | conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara |
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Currency | Moroccan dirham (MAD) | - |
Death rate | NA deaths/1,000 population | - |
Debt - external | $NA | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none | - |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none | - |
Disputes - international | Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, but sovereignty remains unresolved; UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since September 1991, but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties reject other proposals | some maritime disputes (see littoral states) |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA | - |
Economy - overview | 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. All trade and other economic activities are controlled by the Moroccan Government. Moroccan energy interests in 2001 signed contracts to explore for oil off the coast of Western Sahara, which has angered the Polisario. Incomes and standards of living in Western Sahara are substantially below the Moroccan level. | The Atlantic Ocean provides some of the world's most heavily trafficked sea routes, between and within the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Other economic activity includes the exploitation of natural resources, e.g., fishing, the dredging of aragonite sands (The Bahamas), and production of crude oil and natural gas (Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North Sea). |
Electricity - consumption | 83.7 million kWh (2000) | - |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2000) | - |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2000) | - |
Electricity - production | 90 million kWh (2000) | - |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
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Elevation extremes | lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m
highest point: unnamed location 463 m |
lowest point: Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench -8,605 m
highest point: sea level 0 m |
Environment - current issues | sparse water and lack of arable land | endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales; drift net fishing is hastening the decline of fish stocks and contributing to international disputes; municipal sludge pollution off eastern US, southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea |
Environment - international agreements | party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Ethnic groups | Arab, Berber | - |
Exchange rates | Moroccan dirhams per US dollar - 11.584 (January 2002), 11.303 (2001), 10.626 (2000), 9.804 (1999), 9.604 (1998), 9.527 (1997) | - |
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.) (1996 est.) |
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GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | - |
Geographic coordinates | 24 30 N, 13 00 W | 0 00 N, 25 00 W |
Geography - note | the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas | major chokepoints include the Dardanelles, Strait of Gibraltar, access to the Panama and Suez Canals; strategic straits include the Strait of Dover, Straits of Florida, Mona Passage, The Sound (Oresund), and Windward Passage; the Equator divides the Atlantic Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean |
Highways | total: 6,200 km
paved: 1,350 km unpaved: 4,850 km (1991 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
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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 | - |
Infant mortality rate | NA deaths/1,000 live births | - |
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 |
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Land use | arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.) |
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Languages | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic | - |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: NA years
male: NA years female: NA years |
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Literacy | definition: NA
total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA% |
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Location | Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco | body of water between Africa, Europe, the Southern Ocean, and the Western Hemisphere |
Map references | Africa | Political Map of the World |
Maritime claims | contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $NA | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA% | - |
Nationality | noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective: Sahrawian, Sahraouian |
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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 | icebergs common in Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean from February to August and have been spotted as far south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme northern Atlantic from October to May; persistent fog can be a maritime hazard from May to September; hurricanes (May to December) |
Natural resources | phosphates, iron ore | oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, precious stones |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | - |
Population | 256,177 (July 2002 est.) | - |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | NA (2002 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun) | Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Casablanca (Morocco), Colon (Panama), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dakar (Senegal), Gdansk (Poland), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain), Le Havre (France), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK), Marseille (France), Montevideo (Uruguay), Montreal (Canada), Naples (Italy), New Orleans (US), New York (US), Oran (Algeria), Oslo (Norway), Peiraiefs or Piraeus (Greece), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Stockholm (Sweden) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998) | - |
Radios | 56,000 (1997) | - |
Railways | 0 km | - |
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: tied into Morocco's system by microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and satellite; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) linked to Rabat, Morocco |
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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 | surface usually covered with sea ice in Labrador Sea, Denmark Strait, and coastal portions of the Baltic Sea from October to June; clockwise warm-water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the northern Atlantic, counterclockwise warm-water gyre in the southern Atlantic; the ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south centerline for the entire Atlantic basin |
Total fertility rate | NA children born/woman | - |
Transportation - note | - | Kiel Canal and Saint Lawrence Seaway are two important waterways; significant domestic commercial and recreational use of Intracoastal Waterway on central and south Atlantic seaboard and Gulf of Mexico coast of US |
Unemployment rate | NA% | - |
Waterways | none | - |