Demographics of Iraq

The Iraqi people are people originating from the country of Iraq.
Iraqi Arabs are the largest ethnic group in Iraq, followed by Iraqi Kurds, then Iraqi Turkmen as the third largest ethnic group in the country. Studies indicate that Mesopotamian Arabs, who make up the overwhelming majority of Iraq's population, are genetically distinct from other Arab populations in the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula.
The most spoken languages are Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian Syriac and Iraqi Turkmen dialects. The percentages of the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq vary from source to source due to the lack of recent official data.
After several postponements, the latest national census was held on 20 and 21 November 2024, with a total number of 120,000 field researchers who executed the census in all governorates on the set date. The detailed results, announced on 24 February 2025, showed that the Iraqi population had risen to 46,118,793, with 101 Male for every 100 Female. Named the ‘General Population and Housing Census’, it did not include a questionnaire on ethnicity, and was specifically designed to provide official data for developmental and welfare purposes.

Population

Structure of the population

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	10,987,252	11,058,992	22,046,244	100
0–4	1,907,322	1,862,248	3,769,570	17.10
5–9	1,688,130	1,627,076	3,315,206	15.04
10–14	1,421,683	1,363,313	2,784,996	12.63
15–19	1,290,386	1,243,525	2,533,911	11.49
20–24	1,016,867	1,025,804	2,042,671	9.27
25–29	847,383	872,810	1,720,193	7.80
30–34	679,211	708,439	1,387,650	6.29
35–39	412,940	484,993	897,933	4.07
40–44	428,413	453,425	881,838	4.00
45–49	326,666	349,381	676,047	3.07
50–54	263,237	255,955	519,192	2.36
55–59	214,561	208,597	423,158	1.92
60–64	134,527	156,316	290,843	1.32
65–69	123,136	146,658	269,794	1.22
70–74	81,818	110,811	192,629	0.87
75–79	54,984	68,775	123,759	0.56
80-84	38,137	45,719	83,856	0.38
85+	31,951	46,389	78,340	0.36
Unknown	25,900	28,758	54,658	0.25
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	5,017,135	4,852,637	9,869,772	44.77
15–64	5,614,191	5,759,245	11,373,436	51.59
65+	330,026	418,352	748,378	3.39

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	20 135 407	19 719 025	39 854 432	100
0–4	3 001 938	2 845 630	5 847 568	14.67
5–9	2 801 593	2 637 323	5 438 915	13.65
10–14	2 503 802	2 337 380	4 841 183	12.15
15–19	2 196 837	2 075 647	4 272 484	10.72
20–24	1 918 965	1 770 996	3 689 961	9.26
25–29	1 505 098	1 463 422	2 968 520	7.45
30–34	1 317 918	1 356 230	2 674 148	6.71
35–39	1 123 350	1 184 338	2 307 688	5.79
40–44	1 059 298	1 073 442	2 132 741	5.35
45–49	782 854	806 097	1 588 951	3.99
50–54	461 586	574 816	1 036 401	2.60
55–59	524 741	549 131	1 073 872	2.69
60–64	361 381	394 984	756 365	1.90
65-69	237 890	247 820	485 710	1.22
70-74	155 203	156 175	311 378	0.78
75-79	81 749	98 501	180 250	0.45
80+	101 202	147 093	248 296	0.62
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	8 307 333	7 820 333	16 127 666	40.47
15–64	11 252 030	11 249 103	22 501 133	56.46
65+	576 044	649 589	1 225 633	3.08

Vital statistics

UN estimates (based on UN WPP Revision 2022)

Total fertility rate

Age groups	1997	2006
15–19	56.2	68
20–24	210	187
25–29	276.2	221
30–34	257.9	188
35–39	196.5	136
40–44	101.4	56
45–49	31	9
Total	1,128.2	865
TFR		4.3

Life expectancy at birth

Average life expectancy at birth of the total population.

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	37.9	1985–1990	64.3
1955–1960	44.9	1990–1995	67.4
1960–1965	50.9	1995–2000	69.1
1965–1970	56.4	2000–2005	68.9
1970–1975	59.5	2005–2010	68.0
1975–1980	61.7	2010–2015	69.2
1980–1985	59.0

Ethnicity

Iraq's dominant ethnic group is Arabs, who account for more than three-quarters of the population.
According to the CIA World Factbook, citing a 1987 Iraqi government estimate, the population of Iraq is formed of 75-80% Arabs followed by 15-20% Kurds and other minorities form 5% of the country's population, including the Turkmen, Kaka'i, Bedouins, Roma, Assyrians, Circassians, Mandaeans, and Persians.
However, the International Crisis Group points out that figures from the 1987 census, as well as the 1967, 1977, and 1997 censuses, "are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation" because Iraqi citizens were only allowed to indicate belonging to either the Arab or Kurdish ethnic groups; consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmen.

Languages

and Kurdish are the two official languages of Iraq. Arabic is taught across all schools in Iraq, however in the north the Kurdish language is the most spoken. Eastern Aramaic languages, such as Syriac and Mandaic are spoken, as well as the Iraqi Turkmen language, and various other indigenous languages.
Kurdish, including several dialects, is the second largest language and has regional language status in the north of the country. Aramaic, in antiquity spoken throughout the whole country, is now only spoken by the Assyrian minority, in distinct dialects that differ from church affiliation and geographic origin. The Iraqi Turkmen dialect is spoken in parts of northern Iraq, numerous languages of the Caucasus are also spoken by minorities, notably the Chechen community.

Religions

The CIA World Factbook estimated in 2015 that between 95-98% of Iraqis followed Islam, with 61-64% being Shia and 29-34% being Sunni. Christianity accounted for 2%, and the rest practiced Yazidism, Mandaeism, and other religions.
While there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, recent reporting indicates that the overall Christian population may have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with many fleeing to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. The percentage of Christians has fallen from 6% in 1991 or 1.5 million to about one third of this. Estimates say there are 500,000 Christians in Iraq.
Nearly all Iraqi Kurds identify as Sunni Muslims. A 2014 survey in Iraq concluded that "98% of Kurds in Iraq identified themselves as Sunnis and only 2% identified as Shias". The religious differences between Sunni Arabs and Sunni Kurds are small. While 98 percent of Shia Arabs believe that visiting the shrines of saints is acceptable, 71 percent of Sunni Arabs did and 59 percent of Sunni Kurds support this practice. About 94 percent of the population in Iraqi Kurdistan is Muslim.