The following demographic statistics are from the
CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. , year 2005; Number of inhabitants in thousands.
Languages ,
Basque, and Arabic, at Navarra Hospital in
Tifariti.
Modern Standard Arabic and
Spanish are the
official languages of the
Polisario Front, based in
Tindouf,
Algeria.
Hassaniya, an Arabic dialect, is the native language spoken in Western Sahara and in the refugee camps in Tindouf in Algeria. There is also a significant presence of
Berber language speakers in the northern parts of the territory of Western Sahara. and
Arabic, Western Sahara. Hassaniya, primarily spoken at home, is dominated by the Moroccan dialect spoken in the streets, workplace, and schools. This is because the great majority of the population consists of Moroccans who settled in Western Sahara.
French is also commonly used by the Moroccan occupation. In the urban areas
Moroccan Arabic is now spoken, as
Morocco occupies most of the territory of Western Sahara and all of its cities, and considers it an inseparable part of the country. The
Moroccan constitution stipulates two official languages for the Kingdom of Morocco, including Western Sahara: Berber (Tamazight) and Arabic. Spanish is common among
Sahrawi people and especially among the Sahrawi diaspora, with the
Sahrawi Press Service, official news service of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, being available in Spanish since 2001 and the
Sahara Film Festival, Western Sahara's only film festival, showing mainly Spanish-language films. Spanish is used to document Sahrawi poetry and oral traditions and has also been used in Sahrawi literature. Despite Spanish having been used by the Sahrawi people for over a century, the
Cervantes Institute does not provide support or Spanish-language education to Sahrawis in Western Sahara and the
Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. A group of Sahrawi poets known as 'Generación de la Amistad saharaui' produces Sahrawi literature in Spanish.
Religions Sunni Islam is the major religion in Western Sahara. Sunni Muslims constitute about 99.9% of the population. Prior to 1975, there were over 20,000
Roman Catholics in Western Sahara, but there were only around 100.
Nationality Noun: Western Saharan(s)
adjective: Western Saharan
Population 400,000 (November 2014 est.)
Age structure 0–14 years: 44.9% (male 92,418/female 89,570)
15–64 years: 53.8% (male 105,191/female 108,803)
65 years and over: 2.3% (male 3,881/female 5,337) (2010 est.)
Population growth rate 3.097% (2011 est.)
Birth rate 39.54 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)
Death rate 11.49 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)
Net migration rate −6.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.) Morocco has a policy of subsidizing Moroccan settlers in the territory.
Infant mortality rate 69.66 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)
Life expectancy at birth total population: 54.32 years
male: 52 years
female: 56.73 years (2010 est.)
Total fertility rate 4.3 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Literacy definition: NA
total population: 50%
male: 75%
female: 25% ==Refugees==