Editing Demographics of Western Sahara (section)

==Refugees==
{{main|Sahrawi refugees}}

The events triggered by the Moroccan and Mauritanian joint invasion of [[Western Sahara]] at the end of 1975 are directly linked to the large displacement of the [[Sahrawi people|Saharawi]] population, most of whom live as refugees in south-west [[Algeria]]. The major bulk of Saharawis became refugees during the war between the [[Polisario Front]] and [[Morocco]]. The south-western desert region near [[Tindouf]] offered a potential safe region. 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. The current size of the population in the refugee camps is believed to be around 165,000.

Used by the Algerian government, this figure is the most widely quoted by NGOs and is also used by the UNHCR and the World Food Programme to raise funds for food aid to the refugees. In the 2004 WFP meeting in Rome, the number of refugees was officially recognized at 158,000.<ref name="forcedmigration.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo035/fmo035-4.htm |title=FMO Research Guide |access-date=2009-01-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011054045/http://www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo035/fmo035-4.htm |archive-date=2008-10-11 }}</ref>