resolution of sovereignty issue
International disputes:
claimed and administered by Morocco, but sovereignty is unresolved and
the UN is attempting to hold a referendum on the issue; the
UN-administered cease-fire has been currently in effect since
September 1991
Climate:
hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air 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:
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
0%
meadows and pastures:
19%
forest and woodland:
0%
other:
81%
Irrigated land:
NA sq km
Environment:
current issues:
sparse water and arable land
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
international agreements:
NA

@Western Sahara, People

Population:
211,877 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.5% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
47.22 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
19.04 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
-3.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
152.2 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
45.59 years
male:
44.66 years
female:
46.83 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
6.96 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective:
Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Ethnic divisions:
Arab, Berber
Religions:
Muslim
Languages:
Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Literacy:
total population:
NA%
male:
NA%
female:
NA%
Labor force:
12,000
by occupation:
animal husbandry and subsistence farming 50%

@Western Sahara, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
none
conventional short form:
Western Sahara
Digraph:
WI
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), which in
February 1976 formally proclaimed a government in exile of the Sahrawi
Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); territory partitioned between Morocco
and Mauritania in April 1976, with Morocco acquiring northern
two-thirds; Mauritania, under pressure fro