Country

Western Sahara

Northern Africa

Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory in north-western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the northwest, Morocco to the north-northeast, Algeria to the east-northeast, and Mauritania to the east and south. Most of the territory has been administered by Morocco since 1975, while the pro-independence Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, governing the remainder from Tifariti and claiming the whole territory. Its international status remains disputed: as of this entry's writing (source accessed 2026-08-29), the SADR is recognised diplomatically by 36 UN member states (and South Ossetia), and it holds African Union membership, but the territory itself remains a UN-listed Non-Self-Governing Territory with no UN member recognising Moroccan sovereignty over it either. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts

Capital

Laayoune (SADR's de jure claimed capital, held and administered by Morocco); Tifariti (SADR's actual provisional seat of government, in SADR-controlled territory) 1

The SADR infobox names Laayoune as its de jure capital even though Morocco controls and administers that city; Tifariti and Bir Lehlou are named as the SADR's actual and former provisional seats in the territory it controls.

Population

565,581 1

2021 estimate for the whole Western Sahara territory, from its own Wikipedia infobox; this differs from the SADR's own infobox figures, which describe Sahrawi refugee-camp (173,600, 2023) and Free Zone (40,000, 2010) populations specifically rather than the whole territory.

Population Estimate Year

2021 1

Area (sq km)

272,000 1

Whole-territory figure from the Western Sahara page's own infobox; the SADR government-in-exile separately claims 266,000 sq km and controls roughly 90,000 sq km of it (the "Free Zone").

Independence or Founding Year

1976 1

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlou, Western Sahara.

Classification

Sovereignty Status

Partially Recognized State 1

Western Sahara

Cities

Laayoune

Western Sahara

Connections