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The largest country in the world, also was the head of the 2nd world during the cold war.

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Republic of Ghana

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Cayden Schroader

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Floricela Anguiano

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Roland Barrett

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Weber State University, Harrison Boulevard, Ogden, UT, USA

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Weber State University, Harrison Boulevard, Ogden, UT, USA

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Weber State University, Harrison Boulevard, Ogden, UT, USA

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MUNFW country we are representing!

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Introduction

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by the United Kingdom during World War I and was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK administration in 1920. Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932. It was proclaimed a "republic" in 1958 after a coup overthrew the monarchy, but in actuality, a series of strongmen ruled the country until 2003. The last was SADDAM Husayn from 1979 to 2003. Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-88). In August 1990, Iraq seized Kuwait but was expelled by US-led UN coalition forces during the Gulf War of January-February 1991. After Iraq's expulsion, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections. Continued Iraqi noncompliance with UNSC resolutions led to the Second Gulf War in March 2003 and the ouster of the SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led forces.

In October 2005, Iraqis approved a constitution in a national referendum and, pursuant to this document, elected a 275-member Council of Representatives (COR) in December 2005. The COR approved most cabinet ministers in May 2006, marking the transition to Iraq's first constitutional government in nearly a half century. Iraq's constitution also established the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous region that administers the governorates of Erbil, Dahuk, and As Sulaymaniyah. Iraq has held four national legislative elections since 2006, most recently in October 2021 when 329 legislators were elected to the COR. Following these elections and Iraq's longest government formation process in the post-SADDAM era, the COR approved Muhammad Shia' al-SUDANI as prime minister in October 2022. Iraq has repeatedly postponed separate elections for provincial councils - last held in 2013 - and since 2019 the prime minister has had the authority to appoint governors rather than provincial councils. In early 2023, the COR voted to hold provincial elections by the end of the year.

Between 2014 and 2017, Iraq fought a military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) to recapture territory the group seized in 2014. In December 2017, then-Prime Minister Haydar al-ABADI publicly declared victory against ISIS, although military operations against the group continue in rural areas. Also in late 2017, Baghdad forcefully seized disputed territories across central and northern Iraq from the KRG, following a non-binding Kurdish independence referendum.

Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic.

Geography

slightly more than three times the size of New York state

agricultural land: 18.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 8.4% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 9.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 1.9% (2018 est.)

other: 80% (2018 est.)

fresh water lake(s): Lake Hammar - 1,940 sq km

Euphrates river mouth (shared with Turkey[s], Syria, and Iran) - 3,596 km; Tigris river mouth (shared with Turkey[s], Syria, and Iran) - 1,950 km; the Tigris and Euphrates join to form the Shatt al Arab
note - [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

People and Society

Arabic (official), Kurdish (official); Turkmen (a Turkish dialect) and Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) are recognized as official languages where native speakers of these languages are present; Iraqis have the right to be educated in their native language

major-language sample(s):
كتاب حقائق العالم، أحسن مصدر للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)

ڕاستییەکانی جیهان، باشترین سەرچاوەیە بۆ زانیارییە بنەڕەتییەکان (Kurdish)

The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

improved: urban: 100% of population

rural: 97.4% of population

total: 99.3% of population

unimproved: urban: 0% of population

rural: 2.6% of population

total: 0.7% of population (2020 est.)

improved: urban: 100% of population

rural: 100% of population

total: 100% of population

unimproved: urban: 0% of population

rural: 0% of population

total: 0% of population (2020 est.)

Environment

agricultural land: 18.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 8.4% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 9.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 1.9% (2018 est.)

other: 80% (2018 est.)

severe localized food insecurity: due to civil conflict and economic slowdown - the 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview identified 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, of which 960,000 have acute humanitarian needs; while the number of people in need remained similar to the previous year, the severity of those needs increased, largely due to the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on top of an existing humanitarian crisis, leading to a 35% increase in the number of people in acute need; more than half of these are concentrated in the governorates of Nineveh and Anbar; the number of severely food insecure people is estimated at about 435,000, while 731,000 are vulnerable to food insecurity (2022)

municipal solid waste generated annually: 13.14 million tons (2015 est.)

fresh water lake(s): Lake Hammar - 1,940 sq km

Euphrates river mouth (shared with Turkey[s], Syria, and Iran) - 3,596 km; Tigris river mouth (shared with Turkey[s], Syria, and Iran) - 1,950 km; the Tigris and Euphrates join to form the Shatt al Arab
note - [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

Government

name: Baghdad

geographic coordinates: 33 20 N, 44 24 E

time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

etymology: although the origin of the name is disputed, it likely has compound Persian roots with bagh and dad meaning "god" and "given" respectively to create the meaning of "bestowed by God"

description: unicameral Council of Representatives of Iraq (COR) or Majlis an-Nuwwab al-Iraqiyy (329 seats; 320 members directly elected in 83 multi-seat constituencies by single nontransferable vote, 9 seats elected by religious minorities - 5 by Christians, 1 each by Sabaean-Mandaeans, Yazidis, Shabaks andFayli Kurds, and 25% of seats allocated to women; members serve 4-year terms)

elections: last held on 10 October 2021 (next to be held in 2025)

election results: percent of vote by party/coalition - NA; seats by party -Taqadum 47, State of Law Coalition 43, Al Fatah Alliance 37, Kurdistan Democratic Party 31, Kurdistan Coalition 18, Azm Alliance 16, Imtidad 16, State Forces Alliance 11, Ishraqat Kanun 10, New Generation Movement 9, National Contract Party 8, Tasmim Alliance 7, Babiliyun Movement 3, other 73; composition - men 234, women 95, percent of women 28.9%
note - seat counts reflect updated numbers after the Sadrist Trend withdrew from government formation and its 73 seats were reallocated to other parties

Al Fatah Alliance [Hadi al-AMIRI]
Azm Alliance [Khamis al-KHANJAR]
Babiliyun Movement [Rayan al-KILDANI]
Imtidad [Ala al-RIKABI]
Ishraqat Konun [Jaafar AZIZ]
Kurdistan Democratic Party F [Masud BARZANI]
National Contract Party [Falih al-FAYYAD]
New Generation Movement [SHASWAR Abd al-Wahid Qadir]
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [Bafel TALABANI]
Sadrist Bloc [Muqtada al-SADR]
State Forces Alliance [Haydar al-ABADI]
State of Law Coalition [Nuri al-MALIKI]
Taqadum [Muhammad al-HALBUSI]
Tasmim Alliance [Asad al-IDANI]

numerous smaller independent, religious, local, tribal, and minority parties

total World Heritage Sites: 6 (5 cultural, 1 mixed)

selected World Heritage Site locales: Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat) (c); Babylon (c); Erbil Citadel (c); Hatra (c); Samarra Archaeological City (c); The Ahwar (Marshland) of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities (m)

Economy

$390.165 billion (2021 est.)
$379.6 billion (2020 est.)
$428.076 billion (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

comparison ranking: 49

$9,000 (2021 est.)
$8,900 (2020 est.)
$10,300 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

comparison ranking: 149

$73.02 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
$64.16 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

comparison ranking: 61

Iraqi dinars (IQD) per US dollar -

Exchange rates:
1,450 (2021 est.)
1,192 (2020 est.)
1,182 (2019 est.)
1,182.75 (2018 est.)
1,184 (2017 est.)

Energy

electrification - total population: 100% (2021)

143.479 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

from coal and metallurgical coke: 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

from petroleum and other liquids: 108.14 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

from consumed natural gas: 35.339 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

comparison ranking: total emissions 35

Communications

Transportation

river port(s): Al Basrah (Shatt al Arab); Khawr az Zubayr, Umm Qasr (Khawr az Zubayr waterway)

Military and Security

Ministry of Defense: Iraqi Army, Army Aviation Command, Iraqi Navy, Iraqi Air Force, Iraqi Air Defense Command, Special Forces Command, Special Security Division (Green Zone protection)

National-Level Security Forces: Iraqi Counterterrorism Service (CTS; reports to the Prime Minister), Prime Minister's Special Forces Division, Presidential Brigades

Ministry of Interior: Federal Police Forces Command, Border Guard Forces Command, Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency, Emergency Response Division, Facilities Protection Directorate, and Provincial Police

Ministry of Oil: Energy Police Directorate

Popular Mobilization Committee (PMC): Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Tribal Mobilization Forces (TMF); the PMF and TMF are a collection of more than 50 militias of widely varied sizes and political interests

the federal constitution provides the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) the right to maintain its own military/militia (peshmerga) and security forces, but the two main Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), each maintain their own forces:

KRG Ministry of Peshmerga: Regional Guard Brigades; Unit (or Division) 70 Forces and Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) of the PUK; Unit (or Division) 80 Forces and Counterterrorism Directorate (CTD) of the KDP

KRG Ministry of Interior: both the KDP and PUK maintain separate police, emergency response, and internal security/intelligence (Asayish) services under nominal Ministry of Interior control (2023)

2.1% of GDP (2022 est.)
3.7% of GDP (2021 est.)
4.1% of GDP (2020 est.)
3.8% of GDP (2019 est.)
4.5% of GDP (2018 est.)

comparison ranking: 53

information varies; approximately 200,000 personnel under the Ministry of Defense (190,000 Army/Aviation Command/Special Forces; 5,000 Navy; 5,000 Air/Air Defense Forces); approximately 25,000 National-Level Security Forces; estimated 100-160,000 Popular Mobilization Forces

Ministry of Peshmerga: approximately 150,000 (45-50,000 Regional Guard Brigades; 40-45,000 Unit 70 Forces; 65-70,000 Unit 80 Forces) (2023)

Iraqi security forces (ISF), including conventional air and ground forces, are primarily focused on internal security duties; they are actively conducting counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group, particularly in northern and western Iraq; the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), a highly regarded force comprised of three special forces brigades, is the ISF's principal operational unit against ISIS

Kurdish Security Forces (KSF, aka Peshmerga) also conducted operations against ISIS; the KSF were formally recognized as a legitimate Iraqi military force under the country's constitution and have operated jointly with the Iraqi military against ISIS militants, but they also operate outside of Iraqi military command structure; since 2021, the ISF and the KSF have conducted joint counter-ISIS operations in an area known as the Kurdish Coordination Line (KCL), a swath of disputed territory in northern Iraq claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central Iraqi Government; the KSF/Peshmerga report to the Kurdistan Regional Government or Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan parties instead of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense

Popular Mobilization Commission and Affiliated Forces (PMF or PMC), also known as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU, or al-Hashd al-Sha'abi in Arabic), tribal militia units have fought alongside the Iraqi military against ISIS since 2014, but the majority of these forces continue to largely ignore the 2016 Law of the Popular Mobilization Authority, which mandated that armed militias must be regulated in a fashion similar to Iraq's other security forces and act under the Iraqi Government's direct control; the Iraqi Government funds the PMF, and the prime minister legally commands it, but many of the militia units take orders from associated political parties and/or other government officials, including some with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and some that have been designated as terrorist organizations by the US; the PMF/PMU is an umbrella organization comprised of many different militias, the majority of which are Shia:

--Shia militias backed by Iran; they are considered the most active and capable, and include such groups as the Badr Organization (Saraya al-Sala), Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and Kataib Hizballah

--Shia militias affiliated with Shia political parties, but not aligned with Iran, such as the Peace Brigades (Saray al-Salam)

--Shia militias not connected with political parties, but affiliated with the Najaf-based Grand Ayatollah Ali al-SISTANI (Iraq's supreme Shia cleric), such as the Hawza militias

--other PMF/PMU militias include Sunni Tribal Mobilization militias, or Hashd al-Asha'iri; some of these militias take orders from the ISF and local authorities while others respond to orders from the larger Shia PMU militias; still other militias include Yazidi and Christian militias and the Turkmen brigades; the links of these forces to the PMU is not always clear-cut and may be loosely based on financial, legal, or political incentives

at the request of the Iraqi government, NATO agreed to establish an advisory, training and capacity-building mission for the Iraqi military in October 2018; as of 2022, the NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) had about 500 troops; in December 2021, the task force that leads the defeat ISIS mission in Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), transitioned from a combat role to an advise, assist, and enable role (2023)

Space

stated purpose of current program is to acquire satellites for security, economic, agricultural, industrial, environmental and military purposes; status unclear (2023)

note: further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country's space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in Appendix S

Terrorism

Terrorist group(s): Ansar al-Islam; Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)/Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al-Naqshabandi; Kata'ib Hizballah; Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T

Transnational Issues

Iraq-Iran: Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf

Iraq-Turkey: Turkey has expressed concern over the autonomous status of Kurds in Iraq

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Iraq does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; more traffickers were convicted and officials improved oversight of recruitment agencies in Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR); Iraq implemented an action plan to address recruitment or use of children in armed conflict and developed another action plan to prevent recruitment or use of children by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF); however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts, compared with the previous reporting period, to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; officials identified fewer trafficking victims and the Kurdistan Regional Government did not report any enforcement or victim data; deficient procedures, and some officials' limited understanding of trafficking, continued to prevent some victims from receiving protection services; some victims continued to receive inappropriate punishment for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; the government lacked adequate protection services for victims of all forms of trafficking and did not have shelters for adult males or LBGTQI+ victims; therefore, Iraq was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Iraq, as well as Iraqi's abroad; insecurity throughout Iraq increased the population's vulnerability to trafficking; more than a million Iraqis remained internally displaced as a result of ISIS, and as of March 2023, more than 260,000 Syrian refugees were displaced in Iraq; refugees and IDPs face heightened risk of forced labor and sex trafficking, and women and girls in IDP camps with family ties to ISIS faced potential sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and abuse by security and military officials; criminal gangs continued to force women into prostitution and children to beg and sell and transport drugs and weapons; Iraqi refugees in Jordan are vulnerable to labor trafficking; thousands of women and children who escaped ISIS captivity in 2015-2019 remain highly vulnerable to exploitation; children remain vulnerable to forcible recruitment or use by armed groups operating in Iraq, including ISIS, tribal forces, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and non-PMF Iran-backed militias; Iraqi, Iranian, and Syrian women and girls, as well as LGBTQI+ persons in the IKR and federal Iraq are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking; traditional practices, including fasliya -the exchange of family members to settle tribal disputes-and forced child and "temporary" marriages also place women and girls at increased risk of trafficking within Iraq; some men and women from Asia and Africa who migrate-both legally and illegally-to Iraq are subjected to forced labor as construction workers, security guards, cleaners, handymen, and domestic workers; the IKR continued to be a destination for trafficking victims primarily from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, and neighboring countries; some foreign migrants recruited for work in other countries in the region are forced, coerced, or deceived into working in Iraq and the IKR (2023)

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Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by the United Kingdom during World War I and was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK administration in 1920. Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932.