Western Sahara

Western Sahara: A Data-Sparse Territory

The available fact bundle for Western Sahara contains no economic, governance, or military data. There are no figures for GDP, population, government debt, military expenditure, personnel, or any V-Dem governance score in this dataset. This briefing does not take a position on the territory's sovereignty status; it simply reports what the underlying datasets do and do not cover.

What is available is limited to four energy series from Our World in Data. Primary energy consumption was recorded at 0.0042 exajoules in 2023. Electricity generation was 0.09 terawatt-hours — but that figure is dated 2009, well over fifteen years old, and should not be treated as a current estimate. Oil production and gas production are both listed at zero, dated 2016.

Data gaps

This is a case where the gap is the story. No World Bank, IMF, SIPRI, or COW NMC coverage exists for Western Sahara in this bundle, which means no statements can be made here about its economy, its governance, or any military capability. The one energy figure with population-scale relevance — electricity generation — is sixteen years old at the time of writing and almost certainly does not describe current conditions. The oil and gas production figures, both zero, are a decade old. Readers should treat Western Sahara in this dataset as effectively uncovered rather than as a territory confirmed to have negligible activity across these metrics.

Sources: Our World in Data (Energy).