Demographics of Western Sahara

Most countries take censuses every ten years, and some every five in order to stay abreast of change and miscounts; the last count was conducted in 1970, and even that data by colonial Spain is considered unreliable due to large nomadic populations.

[1] Under international law, Morocco's transfer of its own civilians into Non-Self-Governing territory is in direct violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

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.

In the urban areas Moroccan Arabic is now spoken, as Morocco controls and administers 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.

Algeria, in its rivalry with Morocco, offered the Sahrawis a safe place to settle and actively supported the Polisario.

The next Saharawi exodus, although on a smaller scale, took place in 1979 when Mauritania withdrew from the conflict and Morocco annexed the rest of Western Sahara.

Exact figures cannot be provided for the numbers that fled the territory in those two waves, but the estimations are between 1/3 and 2/3 of the total population at that time.