People ::Western Sahara
Population:
405,210
country comparison to the world: 172
note: estimate is based on projections by age, sex, fertility,
mortality, and migration; fertility and mortality are based on data
from neighboring countries (July 2009 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 44.9% (male 92,428/female 89,570)
15-64 years: 52.8% (male 105,191/female 108,803)
65 years and over: 2.3% (male 3,881/female 5,337) (2009 est.)
Median age:
total: 17.3 years
male: 16.8 years
female: 17.8 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.829% NA (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
Birth rate:
39.54 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19
Death rate:
11.49 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 44
Urbanization:
urban population: 81% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 4% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 69.66 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 25
male: 69.84 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 69.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 54.32 years
country comparison to the world: 195
male: 52 years
female: 56.73 years (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate:
NA 5.61 children born/woman (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA
Nationality:
noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective: Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Ethnic groups:
Arab, Berber
Religions:
Muslim
Languages:
Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Literacy:
NA
Government ::Western Sahara
Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Western Sahara
former: Spanish Sahara
Government type:
legal status of territory and issue of sovereignty unresolved;
territory contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front
for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which in
February 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), led by President Mohamed
ABDELAZIZ; territory partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania in
April 1976 when Spain withdrew, 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 Organization of African Unity (OAU) member in 1984;
guerrilla activities continued sporadically until a UN-monitored
cease-fire was implemented on 6 September 1991 (Security Council
Resolution 690) by the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in
Western Sahara or MINURSO
Capital:
none
time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
none (under de facto control of Morocco)
Suffrage:
none; a UN-sponsored voter identification campaign not yet completed
Executive branch:
none
Political pressure groups and leaders:
none
International organization participation:
WFTU
Diplomatic representation in the US:
none
Diplomatic representation from the US:
none
Economy ::Western Sahara
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.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$900 million (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 204
GDP (official exchange rate):
$NA
GDP - real growth rate:
NA%
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$2,500 (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 174
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: 40% (2007 est.)
Labor force:
12,000 (2005 est.)
country comparison to the world: 208
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 50%
industry and services: 50% (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Population below poverty line:
NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA%
Agriculture - products:
fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats
(kept by nomads); fish
Industries:
phosphate mining, handicrafts
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity - production:
90 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 192
Electricity - consumption:
83.7 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 192
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 122
Oil - consumption:
2,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 181
Oil - exports:
0 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
Oil - imports:
1,702 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 179
Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 115
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2008)
country comparison to the world: 88
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
Exports:
$NA
Exports - commodities:
phosphates 62%
Imports:
$NA
Imports - commodities:
fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs
Debt - external:
$NA
Exchange rates:
Moroccan dirhams (MAD) per US dollar - 7.526 (2008 est.), 8.3563
(2007), 8.7722 (2006), 8.865 (2005), 8.868 (2004)
Communications ::Western Sahara
Telephones - main lines in use:
about 2,000 (1999 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
0 (1999)
country comparison to the world: 222
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
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)
Television broadcast stations:
NA
Internet country code:
.eh
Transportation ::Western Sahara
Airports:
6 (2009)
country comparison to the world: 173
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2009)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2009)
Ports and terminals:
Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun)
Military ::Western Sahara
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 52,267
females age 16-49: 59,221 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 4,796
female: 4,679 (2009 est.)
Transnational Issues ::Western Sahara
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
page last updated on October 22, 2009
======================================================================
@World (World)
Introduction ::World
Background:
Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world
wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast
colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from
the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the
landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance
and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in
North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the
environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and
water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h)
the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of
the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population
continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930,
3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6
billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential
growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances
in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal
weapons of war).
Geography ::World
Geographic overview:
The surface of the earth is approximately 70.9% water and 29.1%
land. The former portion is divided into large water bodies termed
oceans. The World Factbook recognizes and describes five oceans,
which are in decreasing order of size: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic
Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean.
The land portion is generally divided into several, large, discrete
landmasses termed continents. Depending on the convention used, the
number of continents can vary from five to seven. The most common
classification recognizes seven, which are (from largest to
smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica,
Europe, and Australia. Asia and Europe are sometimes lumped together
into a Eurasian continent resulting in six continents.
Alternatively, North and South America are sometimes grouped as
simply the Americas, resulting in a continent total of six (or five,
if the Eurasia designation is used).
North America is commonly understood to include the island of
Greenland, the isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the
way to the Isthmus of Panama. The easternmost extent of Europe is
generally defined as being the Ural Mountains and the Ural River; on
the southeast the Caspian Sea; and on the south the Caucasus
Mountains, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. Africa's northeast
extremity is frequently delimited at the Isthmus of Suez, but for
geopolitical purposes, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula is often
included as part of Africa. Asia usually incorporates all the
islands of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The islands of
the Pacific are often lumped with Australia into a "land mass"
termed Oceania or Australasia.
Although the above groupings are the most common, different
continental dispositions are recognized or taught in certain parts
of the world, with some arrangements more heavily based on cultural
spheres rather than physical geographic considerations.
Map references:
Political Map of the World , Physical Map of the World , Standard
Time Zones of the World
Area:
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
note: 70.9% of the world's surface is water, 29.1% is land
Area - comparative:
land area about 16 times the size of the US
top fifteen World Factbook entities ranked by size: Pacific Ocean
155.557 million sq km; Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million sq km; Indian
Ocean 68.556 million sq km; Southern Ocean 20.327 million sq km;
Russia 17,098,242 sq km; Arctic Ocean 14.056 million sq km;
Antarctica 14 million sq km; Canada 9,984,670 sq km; United States
9,826,675 sq km; China 9,596,961 sq km; Brazil 8,514,877 sq km;
Australia 7,741,220 sq km; European Union 4,324,782 sq km; India
3,287,263 sq km; Argentina 2,780,400 sq km
Land boundaries:
the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting
shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border
14 other countries
note: 45 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include:
Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan,
Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary,
Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal,
Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland,
Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West
Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan,
are doubly landlocked
Coastline:
356,000 km
note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other
countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and
Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain,
Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean
Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands,
Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands,
Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica,
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French
Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada,
Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island,
Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island,
Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar,
Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte,
Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru,
Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island,
Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands,
Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint
Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint
Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao
Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka,
Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos
Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and
Futuna, Taiwan
Maritime claims:
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make
the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as
described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:
territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive
economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of
continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary
situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from
extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm
Climate:
a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered
north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two
large areas of cold and dry polar climates
Terrain:
the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the
Pacific Ocean
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,555 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is
the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific
Ocean
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
Natural resources:
the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion
of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant
species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially
in some countries of Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China)
pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are
only beginning to address
Land use:
arable land: 10.57%
permanent crops: 1.04%
other: 88.38% (2005)
Irrigated land:
2,770,980 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:
large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones); natural
disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Environment - current issues:
large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters,
pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of
vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of
wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming
becoming a greater concern
Geography - note:
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just
about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the
universe
People ::World
Population:
6,790,062,216 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.2% (male 950,127,898/female 894,359,186)
15-64 years: 65.2% (male 2,235,114,476/female 2,192,071,874)
65 years and over: 7.6% (male 227,748,114/female 290,640,668) (2009
est.)
Median age:
total: 28.4 years
male: 27.7 years
female: 29 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.167% (2009 est.)
Birth rate:
19.95 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate:
8.2 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization:
urban population: 48.6% of total population (2005)
rate of urbanization: 1.98% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo (Japan) - 35,676,000; New
York-Newark (US) - 19,040,000; Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico) -
19,028,000; Mumbai (India) - 18,978,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) -
18,845,000; Delhi (India) - 15,926,000; Shanghai (China) -
14,987,000; Kolkata (India) - 14,787,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) -
13,458,000; Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 12,795,000 (2007)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 40.85 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 43.85 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 37.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 66.57 years
male: 64.52 years
female: 68.76 years (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.58 children born/woman (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.8% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
33 million (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
2 million (2007 est.)
Religions:
Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants
5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims 21.01%, Hindus
13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews 0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%,
other religions 11.78%, non-religious 11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007
est.)
Languages:
Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%,
Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese
1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French 1.2% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82%
male: 87%
female: 77%
note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults
are found in only eight countries (Bangladesh, China, Egypt,
Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan); of all the
illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low
literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, the Arab states,
South and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where around one-third
of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.)
Government ::World
Administrative divisions:
265 nations, dependent areas, and other entities
Legal system:
all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Economy ::World
Economy - overview:
Global output rose by 3.8% in 2008, down from 5.2% in 2007. Among
major economies, growth was led by China (9.8%), Russia (7.4%), and
India (7.3%). Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth
results, with Macau (15%), Azerbaijan (13.2%), and Angola (11.6%),
registering the highest. Growth rates slowed in all the major
industrial countries and most developing countries, because of
uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer
confidence. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock
economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over
international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology.
Internally, the central government often finds its control over
resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically
based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor
states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in
India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central
government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies,
notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult
political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs
in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek
employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an
already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution,
desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of
their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized
countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the
poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of
view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the
euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January
1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse,
poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and
cultural and political differences among the participating nations.
The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a
growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the
reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist
programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led
coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic
prospects. The complex political difficulties and the high economic
cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global
problems that continued through 2008.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$70.14 trillion (2008 est.)
$68.08 trillion (2007 est.)
$64.77 trillion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):
GWP (gross world product): $61.22 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.9% (2008 est.)
5% (2007 est.)
5% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$10,500 (2008 est.)
$10,300 (2007 est.)
$9,900 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2008 est.)
Labor force:
3.232 billion (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 40.5%
industry: 20.5%
services: 39% (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate:
30% (2007 est.)
note: combined unemployment and underemployment in many
non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12%
unemployment
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 29.4% (2003 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
21.8% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):