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Iraq
The Iraqi Republic
Arabic: (OFFICIAL:) 'al-jumhūriyyatu l-cirāqiyya
Arabic: (SHORT:) 'al- cirāq
INTRODUCTION
1. Political situation
2. Defence
3. Economy
4. Health & Education
5. Human rights
6. Religions & Peoples
7. History
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Search 'Iraq'
MAJOR CITIES
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Baghdad (7.4 million)
Mosul (1.3 million)
Basra (990,000)
Irbil (950,000)
Kirkuk (710,000)
Sulaymaniyah (700,000)
Najaf (560,000)
Al Hillah (540,000)
Nasiriyah (530,000)
Karbala (520,000)
Al Amarah (420,000)
Diwaniyya (390,000)
Ramadi (380,000)
Kut (370,000)
Ba'qubah (240,000)
Fallujah (260,000)
Samarra (200,000)
Zubayr (170,000)
Kufa (110,000)
Tikrit (100,0000)
Dahuk (47,000)
All figures are 2002 estimates.
* Belongs to Kurdish Autonomous Region.
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STATUS
| Independent republic, divided into 18 governorates (muhafaza(t)). Iraq is since April 2003 under the control of a US-led force.
Days of independence: July 17, 1968 Day of Revolution (celebrated as the national holiday).
July 14, 1958 is the date of the republican coup.
Iraq became an independent state on October 3, 1932.
| GOVERNMENT
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Head of state: President Jalal Talabani (Kurdish, Sunni)
Prime minister: Ibrahim Jaafari (Shi'i)
National Assembly: Under the former system it had 250 members, of which 220 are out for elections. 30 seats are reserved for Kuridish delegates, and selected by presidential decree.
| GEOGRAPHY
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Inhabitants: 25 million (2003 estimate). 16,3 million at the 1987 census.
Autonomous Kurdish region: 5 million. 2.01 million at 1987 census (but this figure may have been corrected by the central authorities).
Population growth rate: 2.8%
Total area: 437,000 kmē
Water: 4,900 km²
Autonomous Kurdish region: 36,300 km²
Part of neutral zone shared with Saudi Arabia: 920 km²
Density: 57 per kmē
Border: 3,650 km (Iran 1,460 km, Turkey 352 km, Syria 605 km, Jordan 181 km, Saudi Arabia 814 km and Kuwait 240 km).
Coastline: 58 km
Highest point: Haji Ibrahim 3,600 m
Arable land: 12%
Capital: Baghdad
| HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
| World rank (of 177): (>129)
Index (1.0 max): 0.567
Explanation
| DEMOGRAPHY
| Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Assyrian and Armenian
Religions: Shi'i Islam, Sunni Islam, Christianity, Yazidism, Mandeans
| ECONOMY
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Currency: Dinar
100 dinars=US$0.08. US$1=1880 dinar (May, 2001)
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CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHY
Iraq has a subtropical climate, with a tendency in direction of continental climate in the north.
Iraq is very dependent on water from Tigris and Euphrates, as there is little rain falling here. Annual rainfall in inhabited areas varies between 150 mm (south) and 700 mm (north). Baghdad has middle temperatures varying between 10ºC and 34ºC. Winters can be very cold up in the mountains in the north, which take up less than 5% of all of Iraq territory. The area of the two rivers, where most people now live, is swampy, but irrigation is extensively used to help agriculture, which once was the foundation of the very first civilizations in history of man: Mesopotamia.
The west and south is desert, taking up 35% of total area, and is mostly stone desert.
© Copyright 1996-2008 LookLex Ltd. All rights reserved
By: Tore Kjeilen
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