Map of Iraq | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Iraq lies in the lower part of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, the heart of one of the four great ancient civilizations. The area was overrun by Arab, Mongol, and Turkish conquerors and became a British mandate following World War I. Independence came in 1932. Iraq's pro-Western stance ended in 1958 with the overthrow of the monarchy. Its subsequent turbulent history has witnessed the dictatorship of SADDAM Husayn, civil war with the Kurds, a bloody conflict with neighboring Iran, and, in 1990, an invasion of Kuwait, swiftly turned back by a Western coalition led by the US. Noncooperation with UN Security Council resolution obligations and the UN's inspection of Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological, and long-range missile weapons programs remain major problems.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 58 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: not specific
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers

Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes in southeast; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey

Elevation

Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur

Land use: arable land: 12%; permanent crops: 1%; meadows and pastures 9%; forest and woodland 3%; other 75%; includes irrigated 4%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 19,524,718 (July 1991), growth rate 3.9% (1991)

Nationality: noun--Iraqi(s; adjective--Iraqi

Ethnic groups: Arab 75-80%, Kurdish 15-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%

Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian

Religions: Muslim 97%, (Shia 60-65%, Sunni 32-37%), Christian or other 3%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 46 births/1000 population (1991)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1000 population (1991)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1991)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: development of Tigris-Euphrates river systems contingent upon agreements with upstream riparians (Syria, Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation (salinization) and erosion; desertification

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 66 deaths/1000 live births (1991)

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 68 years female (1991)

Total fertility rate: 7.2 children born/woman (1991)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 60% (male 70%, female 49%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Iraq

Government type: republic

Capital: Baghdad

Administrative divisions: 18 provinces (muhafazat, singular--muhafazah; Al Anbar, Al Basrah, Al Muthanna, Al Qadisiyah, An Najaf, Arbil, As Sulaymaniyah, At Tamim, Babil, Baghdad, Dahuk, Dhi Qar, Diyala, Karbala, Maysan, Ninawa, Salah ad Din, Wasit

Dependent areas

Independence: 3 October 1932 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 17 July (1968)

Constitution: 22 September 1968, effective 16 July 1970 (interim Constitution; new constitution drafted in 1990 but not adopted

Legal system: based on Islamic law in special religious courts, civil law system elsewhere; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal adult at age 18

Executive branch: Chief of State--President Saddam HUSAYN (since 16 July 1979; Vice President Taha Muhyi al-Din MARUF (since 21 April 1974; Vice President Taha Yasin RAMADAN (since 23 March 1991; _#_Head of Government--Prime Minister Sadun HAMMADI (since 27 March 1991; Deputy Prime Minister Tariq AZIZ (since NA 1979; Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Hamza al-ZUBAYDI (since 27 March 1991)

Legislative branch: Army and Republican Guard, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard Force, Internal Security Forces

Judicial branch: Court of Cassation

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, ESCWA, FAO, G-19, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: no Iraqi representative in Washington; Chancery at 1801 P Street NW, Washington DC 20,036; telephone (202) 483-7,500; US--no US representative in Baghdad since mid-January 1991; Embassy in Masbah Quarter (opposite the Foreign Ministry Club), Baghdad (mailing address is P. O. Box 2,447 Alwiyah, Baghdad; telephone [964] (1) 719-6,138 or 719-6,139, 718-1840, 719-3,791

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with three green five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band; the phrase Allahu Akbar (God is Great) in green Arabic script--Allahu to the right of the middle star and Akbar to the left of the middle star--was added in January 1991 during the Persian Gulf crisis; similar to the flag of Syria that has two stars but no script and the flag of Yemen that has a plain white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt that has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band Iraq IraqIraq

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The Bathist regime engages in extensive central planning and management of industrial production and foreign trade while leaving some small-scale industry and services and most agriculture to private enterprise. The economy has been dominated by the oil sector, which has provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems, caused by massive expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran, led the government to implement austerity measures and to borrow heavily and later reschedule foreign debt payments. After the end of hostilities in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. Agricultural development remained hampered by labor shortages, salinization, and dislocations caused by previous land reform and collectivization programs. The industrial sector, although accorded high priority by the government, also was under financial constraints. Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990, subsequent international economic embargoes, and military actions by an international coalition beginning in January 1991 drastically changed the economic picture. Oil exports were cut to near zero, and industrial and transportation facilities severely damaged.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 11% of GNP but 30% of labor force; principal products--wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, other fruit, cotton, wool; livestock--cattle, sheep; not self-sufficient in food output

Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, construction materials, food processing

Industrial production growth rate

Labor force: 4,400,000 (1989; services 48%, agriculture 30%, industry 22%, severe labor shortage; expatriate labor force about 1,600,000 (July 1990)

Unemployment rate: less than 5% (1989 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $NA billion; expenditures $35 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (1989)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $12.1 billion (f.o.b., 1989)
Commodities: crude oil and refined products, fertilizer, sulfur
Partners: US, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, France, Italy, USSR (1989)

Imports: $10.3 billion (c.i.f., 1989)
Commodities: manufactures, food
Partners: US, FRG, Turkey, UK, Romania, Japan, France (1989)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $40 billion (1989 est.), excluding debt to Arab Gulf states

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Iraqi dinars (ID) per US$1--0.3109 (fixed rate since 1982)


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Electricity
Capacity: 9,902,000 kW capacity; 20,000 million kWh produced, 1,110 kWh per capita (1989)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: $NA, NA% of GDP

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 111 total, 102 usable; 73 with permanent-surface runways; 9 with runways over 3,659 m; 52 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil, 4,350 km; 725 km refined products; 1,360 km natural gas

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 1,015 km; Shatt al Arab usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km, but closed since September 1980 because of Iran-Iraq war; Tigris and Euphrates navigable by shallow-draft steamers (of little importance; Shatt al Basrah canal navigable in sections by shallow-draft vessels

Merchant marine: 43 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 944,253 GRT/1,691,368 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 1 passenger-cargo, 17 cargo, 1 refrigerated cargo, 3 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 19 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 chemical tanker; note--since the 2 August 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces, Iraq has sought to register at least part of its merchant fleet under convenience flags; none of the Iraqi flag merchant fleet was trading internationally as of 1 January 1991

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations on 14 October 1990 following the end of the war that began on 22 September 1980; progress had been made on the major issues of contention--troop withdrawal, prisoner-of-war exchanges, demarcation of the border, freedom of navigation, and sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway--but written agreements had yet to be drawn up when frictions reemerged in March 1991 in the wake of Shia and Kurdish revolts in Iraq that Baghdad accused Tehran of supporting; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR; shares Neutral Zone with Saudi Arabia--in December 1981, Iraq and Saudi Arabia signed a boundary agreement that divides the zone between them, but the agreement must be ratified before it becomes effective; Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait from 2 August 1990 until 27 February 1991; in April 1991 official Iraqi acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 687, which demands that Iraq accept its internationally recognized border with Kuwait, ended earlier claims to Bubiyan and Warbah Islands or to all of Kuwait; periodic disputes with upstream riparian Syria over Euphrates water rights; potential dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs