IRAQ
Population

Cities in IRAQ

Population

The population of Iraq is 42.1 million (2024estimate). The population density is about 102 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The natural population growth rate is 1.99%. (2024)
Birth rate per 1000 inhabitants is 23.7 (2024)
Death rate per 1000 inhabitants is 3.9 (2024)
Life expectancy is 73.3 years, men 71.9 and women 75.7 (2024)

Population composition:

Arabs 75-80%
Kurds 15-20%
Turkoman and other small minority groups like Persians, Armenians and Assyrians 5%

Language

The official language is Arabic; in northern Iraq, Kurdish is widely spoken. There are also some smaller minority languages.

Some pronunciation rules of Arabic:

-all letters are pronounced
-A ' means that a letter is pronounced very briefly.
-the r is a rolling r
-The y is pronounced as sj
-the sh is pronounced as sj
-the gh is pronounced like a brew r or French r
-The kh is pronounced as a hard g.
-The ou is pronounced like the oe

There is no fixed Dutch spelling for Arabic words. The names are written as they are pronounced. So Aqaba can just as well be spelled as Akaba.

Arabic is written from right to left and consists of 28 consonants. Vowels are not written, which results in different Latin spellings for the same word. Arabic numerals are written from left to right.

Some words and phrases:

English	Arabic
One	wahed, female: wahda
two	etnen
three	talata
Ten	‘ashra
Hundred	meyya
Thousand	‘alf
Sunday	yom el had
Wednesday	yom el ’arba’
Yes	‘aywa
No	la’
Summer	sef
Winter	sheta
Where is the hotel?	fen el fondok?
What time is it?	essa’a kam?
What is your name?	‘esm-ak ‘ak? (man)
What is your name?	‘esm-ek ‘eh? (woman)
Do you have change?	‘andokom fakka?

Religion

The majority of Iraqis are Muslim (96%). The Shiites are the largest group with 60-65% adherents, followed by the Sunnis with 32-37% adherents. There are also 4% Christians and followers of other religions in Iraq.

Sources