33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

Produced by Euro-CIDES -FR- CAPTIVE/ JUST/2015/RDAP/AG/VICT/9243 Population 570,866 inhabitants (2009) According to the Ethnologue database, there were more than three million Hassaniya speakers in 2006, of whom 2.7 million resided in Mauritania. The number of Hassaniya speakers identifying as Sahrawi in the modern political sense is unknown, and estimates are hotly contested by partisans in the Western Sahara conflict. Actually most estimates however centre around 200,000 to 400,000. These populations are centred in southern Morocco, Western Sahara, and in the Tindouf Province of Algeria, where large number of refugees from Western Sahara are located. Capital city El-Aaiún (179,542 inhab.) Other cities Tifariti – Ad Dakhla – Smara – Cape Bojador – El Marsa Total area 266 000 km² Languages Hassaniya Arabic, Berber languages, Modern standard Arabic, Spanish, French within Moroccan-controlled areas