Warbah
Islands or to all of Kuwait; a United Nations Boundary Demarcation
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 Boundary 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;
northernmost 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; desertification

:Iraq 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%
Religions:
Muslim 97%, (Shi`a 60-65%, Sunni 32-37%), Christian or other 3%
Languages:
Arabic (official), Kurdish (official 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

:Iraq Government

Long-form name:
Republic of Iraq
Type:
republic
Capital:
Baghdad
Administrative divisions:
18 provinces (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Anbar, Al Basrah, A