Republic of Iraq

Wealth and National Well-Being

Country Comparisons:
2010: see chart (bottom)

World Factbook (2011): "An improved security environment and an initial wave of foreign investment are helping to spur economic activity, particularly in the energy, construction, and retail sectors. Broader economic improvement, long-term fiscal health, and sustained increases in the standard of living still depend on the government passing major policy reforms and on continued development of Iraq's massive oil reserves. Although foreign investors viewed Iraq with increasing interest in 2010, most are still hampered by difficulties in acquiring land for projects and by other regulatory impediments. Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which provides over 90% of government revenue and 80% of foreign exchange earnings. Since mid-2009, oil export earnings have returned to levels seen before Operation Iraqi Freedom and government revenues have rebounded, along with global oil prices. In 2011 Baghdad probably will increase oil exports above the current level of 1.9 million barrels per day (bbl/day) as a result of new contracts with international oil companies, but is likely to fall short of the 2.4 million bbl/day it is forecasting in its budget."

People

Living in an urban area
2008: 67%

Deaths and Births estimated per 1,000 persons
2010 deaths 5.03, births 30.09
2008 deaths 5.14, births 30.77
2007 deaths 5.26, births 31.44
2005 deaths 5.49, births 32.50
2004 deaths 5.66, births 33.09
2003 deaths 5.84, births 33.66

Geography

Between Iran and Saudi Arabia. 58 kilometers of coastline on the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf. Mostly desert, and extremely hot in the summer. Capital: Baghdad.

Pronunciation

ear-rack, not eye-rack.

Recent History

An interim government was appointed on June 1, 2004.

October 27, 2010: Seven months have passed since parliamentary elections and Iraq still does not have a government. Nuri Kamal al-Maliki continues to act as prime minister and has been on the road soliciting international support -- recently to Iran.

A power dispute remains, including disputes over oil revenues. Maliki represents the Shia (60-65 percent of the population), and Sunnis (32-37 percent) fear that they will be shut out of political power. Former Sunni fighters who joined forces with the government against al-Qaeda are reported to be without support from local populations, their leadership decimated but returning to anti-government, or anti-Shia, violence.

The Iraqi Security Forces are described by the American writer-activist-scholar Nir Rosen as pervasive and no longer perceived as sectarian death squads.

In a market place in the city of Kirkuk today three teams of gunmen with grenade launchers and machine-guns robbed jewelry shops and killed ten people.

Iraqis complain of slow progress in returning amenities such as electricity service, but there continues to be a growth in population, with births almost six times the number of deaths. Infant mortality is declining slightly and life expectancy rising. And the number of internet users is described as up since 2002.