Demographics of Iraq

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Iraq, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The population is estimated to be 37,202,572 as of 2016, with most of the population being Arab (75-80%), followed by Kurds (15-20%) and others (5%). Iraqis are 0.6% - 3% Christian (down from 6% before 2003), 3% Yazidis, 2% Shabaks with numerous other faiths Shi'a Muslims make up 65% and form the majority and the rest belong to other religious minorities.

Background

Iraq is the region known outside the Islamic world as Mesopotamia. The population estimate in 1920 was 3 million. The ruins of Ur, Babylon and other ancient cities are situated in Iraq, as is the legendary location of the Garden of Eden. Almost 75% of Iraq's population lives in the flat, alluvial plain stretching southeast from Tikrit to the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and the Euphrates carry about 70 million cubic meters of silt annually from this plain down to the delta. The water from these two great rivers, and the fertility of the soil in the alluvial plain and the delta, allowed early agriculture to sustain a stable population as far back as the 7th millennium BC.

Population

Ethno-religious map of Iraq from 2003, produced by the CIA

37,202,572 (2016 estimate),^[1] up from 31,234,000 (April 2009 IMF estimate)^[2]

Iraq fertility rate by region (2006)^[3]

5 - 6   4 - 5   3 - 4   2 - 3

Vital statistics

Ethnic and religious groups

Ethnic and religious groups in Iraq

  Shia Arabs

  Sunni Arabs

  Iraqi Sunni Kurds

  Iraqi Assyrians

  Iraqi Turkmen

  Iraqi Yazidis

Iraq's dominant ethnic group are the Mesopotamian Arabs, who account for more than three-quarters of the population.

According to the CIA World Factbook, citing a 1987 Iraqi government estimate,^[9] the population of Iraq is formed of 75-80% Arabs followed by 15% Kurds.^[9] In addition, the estimate claims that other minorities form 5% of the country's population, including the Turkmen/Turcoman, Yezidis, Shabak, Kaka'i, Bedouins, Roma, Assyrians, Circassians, Sabaean-Mandaean, and Persians.^[9] However, the International Crisis Group points out that figures from the 1987 census, as well as the 1967, 1977, and 1997 censuses, "are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation" because Iraqi citizens were only allowed to indicate belonging to either the Arab or Kurdish ethnic groups;^[10] consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmens/Turkomans.^[10]

A report published by the European Parliamentary Research Service suggests that in 2015 there was 24 million Arabs (15 million Shia and 9 million Sunni); 4 million Sunni Kurds (plus 500,000 Shia Faili Kurds and 200,000 Kaka'i); 3 million Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman; 1 million Black Iraqis; 500,000 Christians (including Assyrians and Armenians); 500,000 Yazidis; 250,000 Shabaks; 50,000 Roma; 3,000 Sabean-Mandaeans; 2,000 Circassians; 1,000 Baha’i; and a few dozen Jews.^[11]

Kurds have one of the highest birth rates of any group in Iraq and the middle east.^[12]

Languages

Arabic and Kurdish are the two official languages of Iraq. Arabic is spoken or understood by arab population and some kurdish intellectuals, while Kurdish is spoken or understood by the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

Kurdish, including several dialects, is the second largest language and has regional language status in Iraqi Kurdistan. Aramaic, in antiquity spoken throughout the whole country, is now only spoken by the Assyrian minority. The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman dialect of Turkish is spoken in pockets of northern Iraq (particuarly in the so-called Turkmeneli region) and numerous languages of the Caucasus are also spoken by minorities, notably the Chechen community.

Religions

97% of Iraqis follow Islam: 65% Shia and 30% Sunni. 1% of these describe themselves as "Just a Muslim".^[13] According to the CIA Factbook, Shias make up 65% of population, while Sunnis 30%. Christianity accounts for 5%, and the rest practice Mandaeism, Yazidism and other religions.

While there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, recent reporting indicates that the overall Christian population may have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with many fleeing to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon (2010 estimate).^[9] The percentage of Christians has fallen from 6% in 1991 or 1.5 million to about one third of this, due to massive exodus - two-thirds of Assyrian Christians have fled to other countries in the Middle East, Europe, United States and Canada.

Nearly all Iraqi Kurds are Yazidi, Muslim or follow Zoroastrianism. A survey in Iraq concluded that "68% of Kurds in Iraq identified themselves as Sunnis and only 28% identified as Shias".^[14] The religious differences between Sunni Arabs and Sunni Kurds are big. While 89 percent of Shia Arabs belief that visiting the shrines of saints is acceptable, 71 percent of Sunni Arabs did and 59 percent of Sunni Kurds support this practice.^[14] About 94 percent of the population in Iraqi Kurdistan is Muslim ^[15]

Demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[16]

See also

• Iraqi diaspora
• Youth in Iraq

References

External links

• The World Factbook - Iraq
• Linguist List partial inventory of languages and dialects of Iraq
• The Iraq DNA project

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