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

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

	Western Sahara (2008)	British Indian Ocean Territory (2002)

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)	1 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2007)	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2002)
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: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago
Area - comparative	about the size of Colorado	about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC
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. 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.	Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.
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	hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds
Coastline	1,110 km	698 km
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT
Death rate	NA	-
Debt - external	$NA	-
Dependency status	-	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London
Diplomatic representation from the US	none	none (overseas territory of the UK)
Diplomatic representation in the US	none	none (overseas territory of the UK)
Disputes - international	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	Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; repatriation is complicated by the US military lease of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the chain
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. 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.	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing.
Electricity - consumption	79.05 million kWh (2005)	NA kWh
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - production	85 million kWh (2005)	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m highest point: unnamed location 463 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m
Environment - current issues	sparse water and lack of arable land	NA
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	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Alan HUCKLE (since 2001); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch
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	-
Flag description	-	white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: 40%	-
GDP - real growth rate	NA%	-
Geographic coordinates	24 30 N, 13 00 W	6 00 S, 71 30 E
Geography - note	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas	archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility
Highways	-	total: NA km paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km
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	-
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	-	1 (2000)
Irrigated land	NA	0 sq km (1998 est.)
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	0 km
Land use	arable land: 0.02% permanent crops: 0% other: 99.98% (2005)	arable land: NEGL permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)
Languages	Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic	-
Legal system	-	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply
Life expectancy at birth	total population: NA male: NA female: NA	-
Literacy	NA	-
Location	Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco	Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia
Map references	Africa	Political Map of the World
Maritime claims	contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016
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	NA
Natural resources	phosphates, iron ore	coconuts, fish, sugarcane
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.)	no indigenous inhabitants note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 2001, there were approximately 1,500 UK and US military personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2002 est.)
Population below poverty line	NA%	-
Population growth rate	NA	-
Ports and harbors	-	Diego Garcia
Radio broadcast stations	AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios	-	NA
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	general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)
Telephones - main lines in use	about 2,000 (1999 est.)	NA
Telephones - mobile cellular	0 (1999)	-
Television broadcast stations	NA	1 (1997)
Terrain	mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast	flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation)
Total fertility rate	NA	-
Unemployment rate	NA%	-
Waterways	-	none

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