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Morocco's state-owned broadcaster, Radio-Television Marocaine (RTM), operates a radio service from Laayoune and relays TV service; a Polisario-backed radio station also broadcasts

.eh

sparse and limited system

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

fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats (kept by nomads); fish

NA

NA

NA

Moroccan dirhams (MAD) per US dollar - / 9.639 (2017 est.) / 9.7351 (2016 est.) / 9.7351 (2015) / 9.7351 (2014 est.) / 8.3798 (2013 est.)

phosphates 62% (2012 est.)

calendar year

NA (2007 est.)

NA (2007 est.)

40% (2007 est.)

$2,500 (2007 est.)

NA

$906.5 million (2007 est.)

NA

NA

fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs

NA

144,000 (2010 est.)

50%

50%

50% (2005 est.)

NA

NA

268,400 Mt (2017 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2018 est.)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

100% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

58,000 kW (2016 est.)

0 kWh NA (2016 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2014 est.)

1,700 bbl/day (2016 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

1,702 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

about the size of Colorado

266,000 sq km

0 sq km

1,110 km

unnamed elevation 805 m

Sebjet Tah -55 m

256 m

desertification; overgrazing; sparse water and lack of arable land

24 30 N, 13 00 W

the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas

0 sq km (2012)

Algeria 41 km, Mauritania 1564 km, Morocco 444 km

2,049 km

18.8% (2011 est.)

0% (2011 est.) / 0% (2011 est.) / 18.8% (2011 est.)

2.7% (2011 est.)

78.5% (2011 est.)

Africa

hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely restricting visibility

most of the population lives in the two-thirds of the area west of the berm (Moroccan-occupied) that divides the territory; about 40% of that populace resides in Laayoune as shown in this population distribution map

mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast

none officially; the territory west of the Moroccan berm falls under de facto Moroccan control; Morocco claims the territory of Western Sahara, the political status of which is considered undetermined by the US Government; portions of the regions Guelmim-Es Smara and Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, as claimed by Morocco, lie within Western Sahara; Morocco also claims Oued Eddahab-Lagouira, another region that falls entirely within Western Sahara

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

Western Sahara

self-descriptive name specifying the territory's western location on the African continent's vast desert

Rio de Oro, Saguia el Hamra, Spanish Sahara

AU, WFTU (NGOs)

none; (residents of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara participate in Moroccan elections)

Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria. After Spain withdrew from its former colony of Spanish Sahara in 1976, Morocco annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara and claimed the rest of the territory in 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Morocco's sovereignty ended in a 1991 cease-fire and the establishment of a UN peacekeeping operation. As part of this effort, the UN sought to offer a choice to the peoples of Western Sahara between independence (favored by the Polisario Front) or integration into Morocco. A proposed referendum on the question of independence never took place due to lack of agreement on voter eligibility. The approximately 1,600 km- (almost 1,000 mi-) long defensive sand berm, built by the Moroccans from 1980 to 1987 and running the length of the territory, continues to separate the opposing forces, with Morocco controlling the roughly three-quarters of the territory west of the berm. There are periodic ethnic tensions between the native Sahrawi population and Moroccan immigrants. Morocco maintains a heavy security presence in the territory. The UN revived direct talks about the territory between Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria, and Mauritania in December 2018.

the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has operated in the Western Sahara since 1991 in accordance with settlement proposals accepted in 1988 by Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO); the Mission's responsibilities include monitoring the ceasefire, reducing the threat of mines and unexploded ordnance, and providing logistic support to the UNHCR-led Confidence Building Measures pending an agreement to resume those activities, which were suspended in June 2014; as of November 2019, MINURSO had about 460 personnel deployed ++

36.29% (male 119,719/female 116,997)

19.44% (male 63,852/female 62,954)

34.9% (male 112,301/female 115,313)

5.27% (male 16,095/female 18,292)

4.1% (male 11,802/female 14,946) (2020 est.)

28 births/1,000 population (2020 est.)

7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2020 est.)

Western Sahara is a non-self governing territory; approximately 75% is under Moroccan control. It was inhabited almost entirely by Sahrawi pastoral nomads until the mid-20th century. Their traditional vast migratory ranges, based on following unpredictable rainfall, did not coincide with colonial and later international borders. Since the 1930s, most Sahrawis have been compelled to adopt a sedentary lifestyle and to live in urban settings as a result of fighting, the presence of minefields, job opportunities in the phosphate industry, prolonged drought, the closure of Western Sahara's border with Mauritania from 1979-2002, and the construction of the defensive berm separating Moroccan- and Polisario-controlled (Sahrawi liberalization movement) areas. Morocco supported rapid urbanization to facilitate surveillance and security. ++ Today more than 80% of Western Sahara's population lives in urban areas; more than 40% live in the administrative center Laayoune. Moroccan immigration has altered the composition and dramatically increased the size of Western Sahara's population. Morocco maintains a large military presence in Western Sahara and has encouraged its citizens to settle there, offering bonuses, pay raises, and food subsidies to civil servants and a tax exemption, in order to integrate Western Sahara into the Moroccan Kingdom and, Sahrawis contend, to marginalize the native population. ++ Western Saharan Sahrawis have been migrating to Europe, principally to former colonial ruler Spain, since the 1950s. Many who moved to refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, also have migrated to Spain and Italy, usually alternating between living in cities abroad with periods back at the camps. The Polisario claims that the population of the Tindouf camps is about 155,000, but this figure may include thousands of Arabs and Tuaregs from neighboring countries. Because international organizations have been unable to conduct an independent census in Tindouf, the UNHCR bases its aid on a figure of 90,000 refugees. Western Saharan coastal towns emerged as key migration transit points (for reaching Spain's Canary Islands) in the mid-1990s, when Spain's and Italy's tightening of visa restrictions and EU pressure on Morocco and other North African countries to control illegal migration pushed Sub-Saharan African migrants to shift their routes to the south.

4.9

20.4 (2020 est.)

44.1

39.2

NA

Arab, Berber

NA

NA

NA

43.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2020 est.)

52.5 deaths/1,000 live births

47.9 deaths/1,000 live births

67 years (2020 est.)

62.1 years

232,000 Laayoune (2018)

22.3 years (2020 est.)

21.4 years

Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian

4.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2020 est.)

652,271 (July 2020 est.)

most of the population lives in the two-thirds of the area west of the berm (Moroccan-occupied) that divides the territory; about 40% of that populace resides in Laayoune as shown in this population distribution map

2.54% (2020 est.)

1.02 male(s)/female

1.01 male(s)/female

0.97 male(s)/female

0.88 male(s)/female

0.79 male(s)/female

1.04 male(s)/female

0.99 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

3.65 children born/woman (2020 est.)

2.61% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

86.8% of total population (2020)

++ many neighboring states reject Moroccan administration of Western Sahara; several states have extended diplomatic relations to the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" represented by the Polisario Front in exile in Algeria, while others support Morocco's proposal to grant the territory autonomy as part of Morocco, although no state recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara; an estimated 100,000 Sahrawi refugees continue to be sheltered in camps in Tindouf, Algeria, which has hosted Sahrawi refugees since the 1980s

6 (2013)

3

3 (2019)

1 (2013)

1 (2013)

3 (2013)

1 (2013)

Ad Dakhla, Laayoune (El Aaiun)