Iraq
Geography
Total area: 436,245 km’; land area: 435,292
km (est.)
Comparative area: slightly more than twice
the size of Idaho
Land boundaries: 3,576 km total; Iran
1,458 km, Jordan 134 km, Kuwait 240 km,
Saudi Arabia 808 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey
331 km
Coastline: 58 km
Maritime claims:
Continental shelf not specific;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic
relations in 1990 but are still trying to work
out written agreements settling outstanding
disputes from their eight-year war concern-
ing border demarcation, prisoners-of-war,
and freedom of navigation and sovereignty
over the Shatt-al-Arab, waterway; in April
1991 official Iraqi acceptance of UN
Security Council Resolution 687, which
demands that Iraq accept the inviolability of
the boundary set forth in its 1963 agreement
with Kuwait, ending earlier claims to
Bubiyan and Warbah Islands or to all of
Kuwait; a United Nations Boundary Demar-
cation Commission is demarcating the
Iraq-Kuwait boundary persuant to Resolution
687, and, on 17 June 1992, the UN Security
Council reaffirmed the finality of the Boun-
dary Demarcation Commission's decisions;
periodic disputes with upstream riparian
Syria over Euphrates water rights; potential
dispute over water development plans by
Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Climate: mostly desert; mild to cool winters
with dry, hot, cloudless summers; norther-
nmost regions along Iranian and Turkish
borders experience cold winters with
occasionally heavy snows
Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes
in southeast; mountains along borders with
Iran and Turkey
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%
Environment: development of
Tigris-Euphrates Rivers system contingent
upon agreements with upstream riparians
(Syria, Turkey); air and water pollution; soil
degradation (salinization) and erosion; deser-
tification
People
Population: 18,445,847 (July 1992), growth
rate 3.7% (1992)
Birth rate: 45 births/1,000 population
(1992)
Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population
(1992)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000
population (1992)
Infant mortality rate: 84 deaths/1,000 live
births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth: 62 years male, 64
years female (1992)
Total fertility rate: 7.0 children
born/woman (1992)
Nationality: noun–Iraqi(s); adjective—Iraqi
Ethnic divisions: Arab 75-80%, Kurdish
15-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%
Religion: Muslim 97%, (Shi'a 60-65%,
Sunni 32-37%), Christian or other 3%
Language: Arabic (official), Kurdish (offi-
cial in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Literacy: 60% (male 70%, female 49%) age
15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 4,400,000 (1989); services
48%, agriculture 30%, industry 22%, severe
labor shortage; expatriate labor force about
1,600,000 (July 1990)
Organized labor: less than 10% of the
labor force
Government
Long-form name: Republic of Iraq
Type: republic
Capital: Baghdad
Administrative divisions: 18 provinces
(muhafazat, singular —muhafazah); Al
Anbār, Al Basrah, Al Muthanná, Al
Qādisiyah, An Najaf, Arbil, As
Sulaymānīyah, At Ta'im, Babil, Baghdad,
Dahuk, Dhi Qār, Diyalá, Karbalā, Maysän,
Ninawā, Salab ad Din, Wasit
Independence: 3 October 1932 (from
League of Nations mandate under British
administration)
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 spe-
cial religious courts, civil law system
elsewhere; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction
National holiday: Anniversary of the
Revolution, 17 July (1968)
Executive branch: president, vice president,
chairman of the Revolutionary Command
Council, vice chairman of the Revolutionary
Command Council, prime minister, first
deputy prime minister, Council of Ministers
Legislative branch: unicameral National
Assembly (Majlis al-Watani)
Judicial branch: Court of Cassation
Leaders:
Chief of State—President SADDAM Husayn
(since 16 July 1979); Vice President Taha
Muhyi al-Din MA'RUF (since 21 April
1974); Vice President Taha Yasin
RAMADAN (since 23 March 1991);
Head of Government—Prime Minister
Muhammad Hamza al-ZUBAYDI (since
13 September 1991); Deputy Prime Minister
Tariq ‘AZIZ (since NA 1979)
Political parties: all political power and
influence are held by the Ba'th Party; in the
north, the Kurdistan Front, made up of the
Kurdish Democratic Party, the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, and others, sponsored
an election for a Kurdish assembly and
“supreme leader” on 19 May 1992
Suffrage: universal adult at age 18
Elections:
National Assembly—last held on 1 April
1989 (next to be held NA); results—Sunni
Arabs 53%, Shi‘a Arabs 30%, Kurds 15%,
Christians 2% est.; seats—(250 total) num-
ber of seats by party NA
Other political or pressure groups: politi-
cal parties and activity severely restricted;
possibly some opposition to regime from
disaffected members of the regime, Army
officers, and Shi‘a religious and Kurdish eth-
nic dissidents
Member of: ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AL,
AMF, CAEU, CCC, 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: Iraq has an
Interest Section in the Algerian Embassy in
Washington, DC; Chancery at 1801 P Street
NW, Washington, DC 20036; telephone
(202) 483-7500;
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 2447 Alwiyah, Baghdad); telephone
[964] (1) 719-6138 or 719-6139, 718-1840,
719-3791