mate:
mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless
summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish
borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that
melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in
central and southern Iraq

Terrain:
mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south
with large flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and
Turkey

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: unnamed peak; 3,611 m; note - this peak is not Gundah
Zhur 3,607 m or Kuh-e Hajji-Ebrahim 3,595 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur

Land use:
arable land: 13.15%
permanent crops: 0.78%
other: 86.07% (2001)

Irrigated land:
35,250 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
dust storms, sandstorms, floods

Environment - current issues:
government water control projects have drained most of the
inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting
the feeder streams and rivers; a once sizable population of Marsh
Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years, has been
displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the natural habitat poses
serious threats to the area's wildlife populations; inadequate
supplies of potable water; development of the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian
Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation (salination) and
erosion; desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Law of the Sea
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Geography - note:
strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the
Persian Gulf

People Iraq

Population:
26,074,906 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (male 5,293,709/female 5,130,826)
15-64 years: 57% (male 7,530,619/female 7,338,109)
65 years and over: 3% (male 367,832/female 413,811) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 19.43 years
male: 19.35 years
female: 19.51 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.7% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
32.5 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
5.49 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/f