iddle East

Area:
total: 437,072 sq km
land: 432,162 sq km
water: 4,910 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Idaho

Land boundaries:
total: 3,631 km
border countries: Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 242 km, Saudi
Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 331 km

Coastline: 58 km

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: not specified
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: 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: Haji Ibrahim 3,600 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur

Land use:
arable land: 12%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 9%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 79% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 25,500 sq km (1993 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 Shi'a Muslims, who have 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
Tigris-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, Nuclear Test Ban
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

@Iraq:People

Population: 22,675,617 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42% (male 4,860,795; female 4,708,453)
15-64 years: 55% (male 6,272,842; female 6,123,188)
65 years and over: 3% (male 331,840; female 378,499) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.86% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 35.04 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex rat