ry: Western Sahara
- Geography
Total area: 266,000 km2; land area: 266,000 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Colorado

Land boundaries: 2,046 km total; Algeria 42 km, Mauritania 1,561 km,
Morocco 443 km

Coastline: 1,110 km

Maritime claims: contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue

Disputes: claimed and administered by Morocco, but sovereignty is
unresolved and guerrilla fighting continues in the area

Climate: hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore currents
produce fog and heavy dew

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

Natural resources: phosphates, iron ore

Land use: NEGL% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 19% meadows and pastures;
0% forest and woodland; 81% other

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

- People
Population: 191,707 (July 1990), growth rate 2.7% (1990)

Birth rate: 48 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 23 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 2 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 177 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 39 years male, 41 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 7.3 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Saharan(s), Moroccan(s); adjective--Saharan, Moroccan

Ethnic divisions: Arab and Berber

Religion: Muslim

Language: Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic

Literacy: 20% among Moroccans, 5% among Saharans (est.)

Labor force: 12,000; 50% animal husbandry and subsistence farming

Organized labor: NA

- Government
Long-form name: none

Type: legal status of territory and question of sovereignty unresolved;
territory contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front for the
Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro); territory partitioned between
Morocco and Mauritania in April 1976, with Morocco acquiring northern
two-thirds; Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all
claims to its portion in August 1979; Morocco moved to occupy that sector
shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control; the
Polisario's government in exile was seated as an OAU member in 1984; guerrilla
activities continue to the present

Capital: none

Administrative divisions: non