World Factbook
Western Sahara
Last updated: 2026-03-28 (today)
Languages
Standard Arabic, Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Berber, Spanish, French
Religions
Muslim
Sex ratio
at birth
1.04 male(s)/female
0-14 years
1.02 male(s)/female
15-24 years
1.01 male(s)/female
25-54 years
0.97 male(s)/female
55-64 years
0.88 male(s)/female
total population
0.99 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
65 years and over
0.79 male(s)/female
Birth rate
28 births/1,000 population (2020 est.)
Death rate
7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2020 est.)
Median age
male
21.4 years
total
21.8 years
female
22.3 years (2020 est.)
Population
652,271 (July 2020 est.)
note: estimate is based on projections by age, sex, fertility, mortality, and migration; fertility and mortality are based on data from neighboring countries
Nationality
noun
Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective
Sahrawi, Sahrawian, Sahraouian
Urbanization
urban population
86.8% of total population (2020)
rate of urbanization
2.61% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Age structure
0-14 years
36.29% (male 119,719/female 116,997)
15-24 years
19.44% (male 63,852/female 62,954)
25-54 years
34.9% (male 112,301/female 115,313)
55-64 years
5.27% (male 16,095/female 18,292)
65 years and over
4.1% (male 11,802/female 14,946) (2020 est.)
Ethnic groups
Arab, Berber
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio
44.1
youth dependency ratio
39.2
potential support ratio
20.4 (2020 est.)
elderly dependency ratio
4.9
HIV/AIDS - deaths
NA
Net migration rate
4.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2020 est.)
Demographic profile
Western Sahara is a non-self governing territory; approximately 75% is under Moroccan control. It was inhabited almost entirely by Sahrawi pastoral nomads until the mid-20th century. Their traditional vast migratory ranges, based on following unpredictable rainfall, did not coincide with colonial and later international borders. Since the 1930s, most Sahrawis have been compelled to adopt a sedentary lifestyle and to live in urban settings as a result of fighting, the presence of minefields, job opportunities in the phosphate industry, prolonged drought, the closure of Western Sahara's border with Mauritania from 1979-2002, and the construction of the defensive berm separating Moroccan- and Polisario-controlled (Sahrawi liberalization movement) areas. Morocco supported rapid urbanization to facilitate surveillance and security. ++ Today more than 80% of Western Sahara's population lives in urban areas; more than 40% live in the administrative center Laayoune. Moroccan immigration has altered the composition and dramatically increased the size of Western Sahara's population. Morocco maintains a large military presence in Western Sahara and has encouraged its citizens to settle there, offering bonuses, pay raises, and food subsidies to civil servants and a tax exemption, in order to integrate Western Sahara into the Moroccan Kingdom and, Sahrawis contend, to marginalize the native population. ++ Western Saharan Sahrawis have been migrating to Europe, principally to former colonial ruler Spain, since the 1950s. Many who moved to refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, also have migrated to Spain and Italy, usually alternating between living in cities abroad with periods back at the camps. The Polisario claims that the population of the Tindouf camps is about 155,000, but this figure may include thousands of Arabs and Tuaregs from neighboring countries. Because international organizations have been unable to conduct an independent census in Tindouf, the UNHCR bases its aid on a figure of 90,000 refugees. Western Saharan coastal towns emerged as key migration transit points (for reaching Spain's Canary Islands) in the mid-1990s, when Spain's and Italy's tightening of visa restrictions and EU pressure on Morocco and other North African countries to control illegal migration pushed Sub-Saharan African migrants to shift their routes to the south.
Total fertility rate
3.65 children born/woman (2020 est.)
Infant mortality rate
male
52.5 deaths/1,000 live births
total
47.9 deaths/1,000 live births
female
43.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2020 est.)
Education expenditures
NA
Population growth rate
2.54% (2020 est.)
Population distribution
most of the population lives in the two-thirds of the area west of the berm (Moroccan-occupied) that divides the territory; about 40% of that populace resides in Laayoune as shown in this population distribution map
Life expectancy at birth
male
62.1 years
female
67 years (2020 est.)
total population
64.5 years
Major urban areas - population
232,000 Laayoune (2018)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
NA
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS
NA