Iraq

AsiaCapital city: BaghdadCapital metro: BaghdadPresident: Nizar AmediPrime Minister: Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani
2026 population
46.1M
Rank #35 globally
Area
438k km² (169k sq mi)
Metros tracked
10
52% of population in metros
Composite score
18.1
Rank #70 globally

population: 2024 census (21 Nov 2024) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 10 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography10 metros

Iraq metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
10 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 10 tracked metros
10 metros
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions

19 entries listed under Iraq across 2 types. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

19 total

Counties (1)

📋 At a glance
Official languages
Arabic, Kurdish
Government
Federal republic
Legislature
Council of Representatives of Iraq
Demonym
Iraqi
Time zone
UTC+03:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+964
Internet TLD
.iq
ISO 3166
IQ
Established
1932
Highest point
Cheekha Dar (3,611 m (11,847 ft))
National anthem
Mawtini

Facts via Wikidata.

📰 In the news1 story
Every story in the latest digest →
💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#124 / 191
0.695
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#53 / 193
$254.4B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#115 / 193
$5.4k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#113 / 190
$14.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#110 / 192
$5.7k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#111 / 194
72.4 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
20.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#74 / 194
70%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
2.1%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#86 / 193
104/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#157 / 193
0.8%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#140 / 175
0.20
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#31 / 166
29.8
World Bank · 2023
Internet users
#96 / 193
81%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#20 / 185
0.3%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#139 / 192
5.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#173 / 186
2%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Energy

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History22 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Post-2003 Republic

Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani✦ Current

2022Present

Prime Minister

Tenure: in office

Ali al-Zaidi

20262022

Prime Minister

Independent

Nizar Amedi✦ Current

2026Present

President

Tenure: 2026–presentPatriotic Union of Kurdistan

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

20222026

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2022–2026Islamic Dawa Party

Abdul Latif Rashid

20222026

President

Tenure: 2022–2026Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Mustafa al-Kadhimi

20202022

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2020–2022Independent

Adil Abdul-Mahdi

20182020

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2018–2020Independent

Barham Salih

20182022

President

Tenure: 2018–2022Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Haider al-Abadi

20142018

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2014–2018Islamic Dawa Party

Fuad Masum

20142018

President

Tenure: 2014–2018Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Nouri al-Maliki

20062014

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2006–2014Islamic Dawa Party

Ibrahim al-Jaafari

20052006

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2005–2006Islamic Dawa Party
Show all 14 leaders

Jalal Talabani

20052014

President

Tenure: 2005–2014Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Ayad Allawi

20042005

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2004–2005Iraqi National Accord

Republic (1958–2003)

⚠️ Saddam Hussein

19792003

President

Tenure: 1979–2003Ba'ath Party

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

19681979

President

Tenure: 1968–1979Ba'ath Party

Abdul Rahman Arif

19661968

President

Tenure: 1966–1968

Abdul Salam Arif

19631966

President

Tenure: 1963–1966

Abd al-Karim Qasim

19581963

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1958–1963

Kingdom of Iraq (Hashemite)

👑 Faisal II

19391958

Monarch

Tenure: 1939–1958 (regency to 1953)

👑 Ghazi

19331939

Monarch

Tenure: 1933–1939

👑 Faisal I

19211933

Monarch

Tenure: 1921–1933
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#66 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%19502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Iraq · share of world power, 1932–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Conflicts since 194511 interstate wars · click to expand
Islamic State
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Mahdi Army (until 2008),Special Groups
Combat deaths:
Iraq War2003–2011
Ba'athist Iraq,Insurgent groups
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths: 405,000–1,200,000
Combat deaths: 1,000+
Combat deaths: 10,521–21,300
Combat deaths: 12,336–19,264
Combat deaths: 13,073–26,373

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
45.1m
#35 in the world
Since 1800
45×
from 1.0m
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.56%
0.10% in 1800
12.0m24.0m36.0m48.0m18001850190019502000
Iraq · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Iraq: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
after 2100
still growing at 2100
2050
71.9m
95% band 57.1m to 88.5m
2100
101m
95% band 50.2m to 204m
2100 against 2025
2.14×
median still rising in 2100
53.6m107m161m214m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
259k born · 149k died · +3k net migration
TFR 6.20 · life expectancy 37.4 · median age 20.5
1960
258k born · 102k died · +2k net migration
TFR 5.30 · life expectancy 51.5 · median age 19.4
1970
444k born · 106k died · +1k net migration
TFR 7.07 · life expectancy 60.5 · median age 17.0
1980
550k born · 130k died · +16k net migration
TFR 6.59 · life expectancy 60.9 · median age 15.3
1990
714k born · 195k died · -601k net migration
TFR 5.93 · life expectancy 57.6 · median age 16.0
2000
882k born · 166k died · +88k net migration
TFR 4.92 · life expectancy 64.9 · median age 16.9
2010
1.1m born · 168k died · +93k net migration
TFR 4.46 · life expectancy 68.1 · median age 17.9
2020
1.1m born · 210k died · +30k net migration
TFR 3.42 · life expectancy 69.7 · median age 19.6
Show all 16 decades
2030
1.3m born · 228k died · -30k net migration
TFR 2.97 · life expectancy 73.1 · median age 22.1
2040
1.3m born · 305k died · +2k net migration
TFR 2.66 · life expectancy 74.1 · median age 25.2
2050
1.3m born · 406k died · -26k net migration
TFR 2.45 · life expectancy 75.3 · median age 27.8
2060
1.3m born · 517k died · +17k net migration
TFR 2.27 · life expectancy 76.5 · median age 30.2
2070
1.3m born · 635k died · -36k net migration
TFR 2.15 · life expectancy 77.8 · median age 32.7
2080
1.3m born · 761k died · -26k net migration
TFR 2.05 · life expectancy 79.0 · median age 35.2
2090
1.2m born · 881k died · -47k net migration
TFR 1.97 · life expectancy 80.3 · median age 37.3
2100
1.2m born · 982k died · -42k net migration
TFR 1.92 · life expectancy 81.6 · median age 39.1

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Iraq on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.

National Teams Champions

Every major championship won by Iraq's national teams, newest first. 1 in total.

2007· 2007-07-29