Compare Western Sahara (2008) - Pacific Ocean (2006)

Compare Western Sahara (2008) z Pacific Ocean (2006)

	Western Sahara (2008)	Pacific Ocean (2006)

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)	-
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: 266,000 sq km land: 266,000 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 155.557 million sq km note: includes Bali Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Tonkin, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative	about the size of Colorado	about 15 times the size of the US; covers about 28% of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the world
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.	The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean). Strategically important access waterways include the La Perouse, Tsugaru, Tsushima, Taiwan, Singapore, and Torres Straits. The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of 60 degrees south.
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	planetary air pressure systems and resultant wind patterns exhibit remarkable uniformity in the south and east; trade winds and westerly winds are well-developed patterns, modified by seasonal fluctuations; tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico from June to October and affect Mexico and Central America; continental influences cause climatic uniformity to be much less pronounced in the eastern and western regions at the same latitude in the North Pacific Ocean; the western Pacific is monsoonal - a rainy season occurs during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when dry winds blow from the Asian landmass back to the ocean; tropical cyclones (typhoons) may strike southeast and east Asia from May to December
Coastline	1,110 km	135,663 km
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara	-
Death rate	NA	-
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, 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	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. 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.	The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch. It provides low-cost sea transportation between East and West, extensive fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and sand and gravel for the construction industry. In 1996, over 60% of the world's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean. Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of the US, Australia, NZ, China, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas, combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has led to fluctuations in new drillings.
Electricity - consumption	79.05 million kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - production	85 million kWh (2005)	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m highest point: unnamed location 463 m	lowest point: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench -10,924 m highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues	sparse water and lack of arable land	endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China Sea
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	-
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	-
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: 40%	-
GDP - real growth rate	NA%	-
Geographic coordinates	24 30 N, 13 00 W	0 00 N, 160 00 W
Geography - note	the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas	the major chokepoints are the Bering Strait, Panama Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean; dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean
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	-
Irrigated land	NA	-
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	-
Land use	arable land: 0.02% permanent crops: 0% other: 99.98% (2005)	-
Languages	Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic	-
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	body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere
Map references	Africa	Political Map of the World
Maritime claims	contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue	-
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	surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity sometimes referred to as the "Pacific Ring of Fire"; subject to tropical cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia from May to December (most frequent from July to October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico and strike Central America and Mexico from June to October (most common in August and September); cyclical El Nino/La Nina phenomenon occurs in the equatorial Pacific, influencing weather in the Western Hemisphere and the western Pacific; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to May; persistent fog in the northern Pacific can be a maritime hazard from June to December
Natural resources	phosphates, iron ore	oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish
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.)	-
Population below poverty line	NA%	-
Population growth rate	NA	-
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	surface currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise, warm-water gyre (broad circular system of currents) and in the southern Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; in the northern Pacific, sea ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in winter; in the southern Pacific, sea ice from Antarctica reaches its northernmost extent in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is dissected by deep trenches, including the Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest
Total fertility rate	NA	-
Transportation - note	-	Inside Passage offers protected waters from southeast Alaska to Puget Sound (Washington state)
Unemployment rate	NA%	-

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