Western Sahara records 99.6% total-population male circumcision prevalence in the Morris 2016 global model — one of the highest figures in the dataset — yet it is one of the least empirically documented territories in the world. The figure is derived entirely from religious demographics: with ~100% of both the indigenous Sahrawi Arab-Berber population and the Moroccan settler population being Sunni Muslim, the model's near-universal assumption is structurally reasonable, but no survey exists or can exist in the absence of recognised sovereignty.
Western Sahara records 99.6% total-population male circumcision prevalence in the Morris 2016 global model (PMC4772313). It is one of the highest figures in the dataset, yet also one of the least empirically verified: no demographic health survey (DHS), MICS, or national health survey measuring male circumcision exists for the territory, and structurally cannot exist — Western Sahara is not a UN member state, has no internationally recognised sovereign government, and is not part of the global health surveillance architecture that produces such data.
The 99.6% figure is derived from religious demographics. Both the indigenous Sahrawi Arab-Berber population and the Moroccan settler population are Sunni Muslim (predominantly Maliki school, as is most of North and West Africa), making the model assumption of near-universal circumcision among Muslim males structurally robust despite the absence of direct measurement. Circumcision (khitan) is standard Islamic practice accepted across all major Sunni schools; there is no indication of any Western Saharan exception to this tradition.
The territory's legal situation is equally fragmented. Morocco administers approximately 80% of the territory (designated the "Southern Provinces") under Moroccan national law, including the Moudawwana (Personal Status Code). The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) — recognised by ~84 UN member states — administers the eastern Liberated Territories and oversees the ~173,600 Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps in Algeria. Neither Moroccan law nor SADR's constitutional framework specifically regulates non-therapeutic male circumcision. No circumcision statute was identified in either jurisdiction.
HIV prevalence for Western Sahara is officially "NA" — no UNAIDS, WHO, or academic source provides a quantified figure. The territory does not appear in UNAIDS country-level reporting. Health data for the Tindouf refugees is collected by UNHCR, MSF, and the SADR Ministry of Health in exile under Algerian territorial jurisdiction, not under Western Sahara territorial surveillance. Western Sahara is not a WHO VMMC priority country. No Western Sahara-specific circumcision complication or mortality data was found.
