Compare Western Sahara (2004) - Southern Ocean (2004)

Compare Western Sahara (2004) z Southern Ocean (2004)

	Western Sahara (2004)	Southern Ocean (2004)

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 (2003 est.)	-
Airports - with paved runways	total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2004 est.)	-
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.)	-
Area	total: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 20.327 million sq km note: includes Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative	about the size of Colorado	slightly more than twice 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 UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed.	A decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 delimited a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - from the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).
Birth rate	NA births/1,000 population	-
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	sea temperatures vary from about 10 degrees Celsius to -2 degrees Celsius; cyclonic storms travel eastward around the continent and frequently are intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and open ocean; the ocean area from about latitude 40 south to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds found anywhere on Earth; in winter the ocean freezes outward to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, lowering surface temperatures well below 0 degrees Celsius; at some coastal points intense persistent drainage winds from the interior keep the shoreline ice-free throughout the winter
Coastline	1,110 km	17,968 km
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara	-
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, whose sovereignty remains unresolved - UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since September 1991 but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties thus far have rejected all brokered proposals	Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in extending those continental shelf claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to include undersea ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal claims have been made in the sector between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west
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.	Fisheries in 2000-01 (1 July to 30 June) landed 112,934 metric tons, of which 87% was krill and 11% Patagonian toothfish. International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which in the 2000-01 season landed, by one estimate, 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and antarctic toothfish. In the 2000-01 antarctic summer 12,248 tourists, most of them seaborne, visited the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, compared to 14,762 the previous year.
Electricity - consumption	83.7 million kWh (2001)	-
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2001)	-
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2001)	-
Electricity - production	90 million kWh (2001)	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m highest point: unnamed location 463 m	lowest point: -7,235 m at the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues	sparse water and lack of arable land	increased solar ultraviolet radiation resulting from the Antarctic ozone hole in recent years, reducing marine primary productivity (phytoplankton) by as much as 15% and damaging the DNA of some fish; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in recent years, especially the landing of an estimated five to six times more Patagonian toothfish than the regulated fishery, which is likely to affect the sustainability of the stock; large amount of incidental mortality of seabirds resulting from long-line fishing for toothfish note: the now-protected fur seal population is making a strong comeback after severe overexploitation in the 18th and 19th centuries
Environment - international agreements	party to: none of the selected agreements signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements	the Southern Ocean is subject to all international agreements regarding the world's oceans; in addition, it is subject to these agreements specific to the Antarctic region: International Whaling Commission (prohibits commercial whaling south of 40 degrees south [south of 60 degrees south between 50 degrees and 130 degrees west]); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (limits sealing); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (regulates fishing) note: many nations (including the US) prohibit mineral resource exploration and exploitation south of the fluctuating Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) which is in the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and serves as the dividing line between the very cold polar surface waters to the south and the warmer waters to the north
Ethnic groups	Arab, Berber	-
Exchange rates	Moroccan dirhams per US dollar - 9.574 (2003), 11.584 (2002), 11.303 (2001), 10.626 (2000), 9.804 (1999)	-
Executive branch	none	-
Exports	NA (2001)	-
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% (1996 est.)	-
GDP - per capita	purchasing power parity - NA	-
GDP - real growth rate	NA	-
Geographic coordinates	24 30 N, 13 00 W	65 00 S, 0 00 E (nominally), but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica; this ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude
Geography - note	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas	the major chokepoint is the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica; the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) is the best natural definition of the northern extent of the Southern Ocean; it is a distinct region at the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that separates the very cold polar surface waters to the south from the warmer waters to the north; the Front and the Current extend entirely around Antarctica, reaching south of 60 degrees south near New Zealand and near 48 degrees south in the far South Atlantic coinciding with the path of the maximum westerly winds
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 (2001)	-
Imports - commodities	fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs	-
Imports - partners	Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included in overall Moroccan accounts (2000)	-
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 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: 0.02% permanent crops: 0% other: 99.98% (2001)	-
Languages	Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic	-
Life expectancy at birth	total population: NA years male: NA years female: NA years	-
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 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica
Map references	Africa	Antarctic Region
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: Sahrawi,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	huge icebergs with drafts up to several hundred meters; smaller bergs and iceberg fragments; sea ice (generally 0.5 to 1 meter thick) with sometimes dynamic short-term variations and with large annual and interannual variations; deep continental shelf floored by glacial deposits varying widely over short distances; high winds and large waves much of the year; ship icing, especially May-October; most of region is remote from sources of search and rescue
Natural resources	phosphates, iron ore	probable large and possible giant oil and gas fields on the continental margin, manganese nodules, possible placer deposits, sand and gravel, fresh water as icebergs; squid, whales, and seals - none exploited; krill, fishes
Political pressure groups and leaders	none	-
Population	267,405 (July 2004 est.)	-
Population below poverty line	NA	-
Population growth rate	NA	-
Ports and harbors	Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun)	McMurdo, Palmer, and offshore anchorages in Antarctica note: few ports or harbors exist on the southern side of the Southern Ocean; ice conditions limit use of most of them to short periods in midsummer; even then some cannot be entered without icebreaker escort; most antarctic ports are operated by government research stations and, except in an emergency, are not open to commercial or private vessels; vessels in any port south of 60 degrees south are subject to inspection by Antarctic Treaty observers (see Article 7)
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	mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast	the Southern Ocean is deep, 4,000 to 5,000 meters over most of its extent with only limited areas of shallow water; the Antarctic continental shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths of 400 to 800 meters (the global mean is 133 meters); the Antarctic icepack grows from an average minimum of 2.6 million square kilometers in March to about 18.8 million square kilometers in September, better than a sixfold increase in area; the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (21,000 km in length) moves perpetually eastward; it is the world's largest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second - 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers
Total fertility rate	NA children born/woman	-
Transportation - note	-	Drake Passage offers alternative to transit through the Panama Canal
Unemployment rate	NA	-

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