Iraq

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Iraq

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name al-Jumhuriyya al'Iraqiyya/Republic of Iraq Area 434,924 sq km/167,924 sq mi Capital Baghdad Language Arabic (80%) (official), Kurdish (15%), Assyrian, Armenian Religion Shiite Muslim 60%, Sunni Muslim 37%, Christian 3% Time difference GMT +3 Major holidays 1, 6 January, 8 February, 21 March, 1 May, 14, 17 July; variable: Eid-ul-Adha (4 days), Ashora, end of Ramadan (3 days), New Year (Muslim), Prophet's Birthday


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Mosul, Basra, Kirkuk, Hillah, An Najaf, An Nasiriya, As Sulamaniya, Irbil Major ports Basra Physical features mountains in north, desert in west; wide valley of rivers Tigris and Euphrates running northwest–southeast; canal linking Baghdad and the Gulf opened in 1992 Airports three international airports and at least three domestic airports (many civilian airports sustained heavy damage during the 1991 Gulf War, and international air links were virtually halted by the UN embargo imposed in 1990) Railways total length: 2,339 km/1,453 mi; total passenger journeys: 2.8 million (1997) Roads total road network: 45,550 km/28,303 mi, of which 84.3% paved (1999 est); passenger cars: 39.4 per 1,000 people (1996 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Jalal Talabani from 2005 Head of government Nuri al-Maliki from 2006 Political system pending Political executive pending Administrative divisions 18 provinces Political party pending Death penalty retained and used for ordinary crimes Armed forces 227,000 security forces (2006 est) Conscription military service is compulsory for 18–24 months Defence spend (% GDP) 5 (2001 est) Health spend (% GDP) 1.4 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency Iraqi dinar GDP (US$) 12.6 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 3.1 (2005 est) GNI (US$) 21.1 billion (2004 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 3,100 (2004 est) Consumer price inflation 31.6% (2005 est) Unemployment 25–30% (2005 est) Labour force 12% agriculture, 20% industry, 68% services (1997 est) Foreign debt (US$) 96.4 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners USA, Turkey, Jordan, Italy, Canada, Vietnam Resources petroleum, natural gas, sulphur, phosphates Industries chemical, petroleum, coal, rubber and plastic products, food processing, nonmetallic minerals, textiles, mining Exports crude petroleum, dates and other dried fruits. Principal market: USA 49.4% (2005 est) Imports machinery and transport equipment, basic manufactured articles, cereals and other foodstuffs, iron and steel. Principal source: Turkey 22.3% (2004 est) Arable land 13.1% (2006 est) Agricultural products dates, wheat, barley, maize, sugar beet, sugar cane, tobacco, melons, rice; livestock rearing (notably production of eggs and poultry meat)


POPULATION

Population 29,551,100 (2006 est) Population growth rate 2.4% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 68 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 67 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 41%, 15–59 54%, 60+ 5% (2005 est) Ethnic groups about 79% Arab, 16% Kurdish (mainly in northeast), 3% Persian, 2% Turkish Life expectancy 60 (men); 63 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 125 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 6 Literacy rate 56% (men); 24% (women) (2003 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 5.4 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 1.3 (2003 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 97 (urban); 50 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 4 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 2.2 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 229 (1999) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 82 (1999 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 0.1 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

c. 3400 BC The world's oldest civilization, the Sumerian, arose in the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, known as lower Mesopotamia, which lies in the heart of modern Iraq. Its cities included Lagash, Eridu, Uruk, Kish, and Ur. c. 2350 BC The confederation of Sumerian city-states was forged into an empire by the Akkadian leader Sargon. 7th century BC In northern Mesopotamia, the Assyrian Empire, based around the River Tigris and formerly dominated by Sumeria and Euphrates-centred Babylonia, created a vast empire covering much of the Middle East. 612 BC The Assyrian capital of Nineveh was destroyed by Babylon and Mede (in northwest Iran). c. 550 BC Mesopotamia came under Persian control. AD 114 Conquered by the Romans. 266 Came under the rule of the Persian-based Sassanians. 637 Sassanian Empire destroyed by Muslim Arabs at battle of Qadisiya, in southern Iraq; Islam spread. 750–1258 Dominated by Abbasid dynasty, who reigned as caliphs (Islamic civil and religious leaders) in Baghdad. 1258 Baghdad invaded and burned by Tatars. 1401 Baghdad destroyed by Mongol ruler Tamerlane. 1533 Annexed by Suleiman the Magnificent, becoming part of the Ottoman Empire until the 20th century, despite recurrent anti-Ottoman insurrections. 1916 Occupied by Britain during World War I. 1920 Iraq became a British League of Nations protectorate. 1921 Hashemite dynasty established, with Faisal I installed by Britain as king. 1932 Independence achieved from British protectorate status, with Gen Nuri-el Said as prime minister. 1941–45 Occupied by Britain during World War II. 1955 Signed the Baghdad Pact collective security treaty with the UK, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. 1958 Monarchy overthrown in military-led revolution, in which King Faisal was assassinated; Iraq became a republic; joined Jordan in an Arab Federation; withdrew from Baghdad Pact as left-wing military regime assumed power. 1963 Joint socialist-nationalist Ba'athist-military coup headed by Col Salem Aref and backed by US Central Intelligence Agency; reign of terror launched against the left. 1968 Ba'athist military coup put Maj-Gen Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in power. 1979 Al-Bakr replaced by Saddam Hussein of the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party. 1980 War between Iraq and Iran broke out. 1985–87 Fighting in the Iran–Iraq war intensified, with heavy loss of life. 1988 There was a ceasefire and talks began with Iran. Iraq used chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels seeking greater autonomy in the northwest. 1989 Unsuccessful coup against President Hussein; Iraq successfully launched ballistic test missile. 1990 Peace treaty favouring Iran agreed. Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait in August. US forces massed in Saudi Arabia at request of King Fahd. United Nations (UN) ordered Iraqi withdrawal and imposed total trade ban; further UN resolution sanctioned use of force. All foreign hostages released. 1991 US-led Allied forces launched aerial assault on Iraq and destroyed country's infrastructure; successful land–sea–air offensive to free Kuwait. Uprisings of Kurds and Shiites brutally suppressed by surviving Iraqi troops. Allied troops established ‘safe havens’ for Kurds in the north prior to withdrawal, and left a rapid-reaction force near Turkish border. 1992 UN imposed ‘no-fly zone’ over southern Iraq to protect Shiites. 1993 Iraqi incursions into ‘no-fly zone’ prompted US-led alliance aircraft to bomb strategic targets in Iraq. Continued persecution of Shiites in the south. 1994 Iraq renounced claim to Kuwait; failed to fulfil other conditions required for lifting of UN sanctions. 1996 Iraqi-backed attacks on Kurds prompted US retaliation; air strikes destroyed Iraqi military bases in the south. 1997 Iraq continued to resist US and Allied pressure to allow UN weapons inspections. 1998 Iraq expelled UN weapons inspectors; their report showed that Iraq had failed to meet UN requirements on destruction of chemical and biological weapons. In December US and UK forces launched Operation Desert Fox which lasted four days; further clashes between US–UK forces and Baghdad over no-fly zone. 1999 In February US–UK air strikes resumed for short time. UK suggested lifting of sanctions if Iraq resumed cooperation with UN. 2000 UN head of humanitarian aid efforts in Iraq resigned in protest at continuing sanctions. Iraq–Syria border reopened, and Iraq began pumping oil to Syria in contravention of UN oil-for-food programme. 2001 Iraq signed free-trade agreements with Egypt and Syria. UK and US aircraft bombed radar sites near Baghdad, aiming to enforce no-fly zones. 2002 Under increasing threat of military intervention by USA, Iraqi government agreed to readmit UN weapons inspectors, expelled in 1998. The UN Security Council agreed unanimously on Resolution 1441, giving Saddam Hussein final chance to comply with commitments to disarm weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or face ‘serious consequences’. 2003 USA and UK started controversial military action in March, nominally to rid Iraq of WMD. Following rapid military advance through Iraq, US ground forces took control of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, his sons Uday and Qusay were killed, and widespread looting by Iraqi civilians followed. New 25-member Iraqi governing council appointed by US and UK officials and broadly representing the country's religious and ethnic make-up; inaugurated in July. Iraqi insurgents and suicide bombers maintained almost daily attacks on US and other targets, including International Red Cross, killing and wounding dozens of people. US troops captured Saddam Hussein near Tikrit in December. 2004 Double suicide bombing at offices of two chief Kurdish parties in Irbil killed at least 56 people and injured more than 200; among those killed were several senior political figures. Sovereignty transferred to interim government in June. 2005 Iraqis voted in first multiparty elections in 50 years. Majority of votes went to Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance; alliance of Kurdish parties came second. Members of parliament elected Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq's interim president. Suicide bomb blast targeting police recruits in Irbil killed at least 50 people. Parliament of Kurdish autonomous region held its first session. 2006 Following months of deadlock, President Talabani asked Shia politician Jawad al-Maliki to form country's next government. It was hoped this would help end sectarian divisions that threatened to draw Iraq into civil war. 2007 Responsibility for security in three Kurdish provinces handed over to Kurdish regional government by US forces. Sectarian violence and suicide bomb attacks continue unabated. By September 2007, more than 4,000 coalition forces, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, had been killed since US-led invasion in 2003.


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