sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area-comparative: about the size of Colorado

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

Coastline: 1,110 km

Maritime claims: contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue

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

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m
highest point: unnamed location 463 m

Natural resources: phosphates, iron ore

Land use:
arable land: 19%
permanent crops: 24%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 47%
other: 10% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

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

Environment-current issues: sparse water and arable land

Environment-international agreements:
party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

@Western Sahara:People

Population: 233,730 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: NA
15-64 years: NA
65 years and over: NA

Population growth rate: 2.4% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 45.78 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 17.05 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 139.74 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 48.41 years
male: 47.32 years
female: 49.83 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.75 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective: Sahrawian, Sahraouian

Ethnic groups: Arab, Berber

Religions: Muslim

Languages: Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic

Literacy: NA

@Western Sahara:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Western Sahara

Data code: WI

Government 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