IRAQInformation from

CIA World Fact Book 2010

The Takbir (Arabic expression meaning "God is great") in green Arabic script is centered in the white band

Type of governmentparliamentary democracy legal system based on European civil

and Islamic law under the framework outlined in the Iraqi Constitution

ReligionShia Muslim 60%-65%Sunni Muslim 32%-37%Christian or other 3%

Ethnic groupsArab 75%-80%Kurdish 15%-20%Other 5%

LanguageArabicKurdish

Capital cityBaghdad

Geography/Climatemostly desert; mild to cool winters

with dry, hot, cloudless summersnorthern mountain 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

Environmental Issuesinadequate supplies of potable

waterdevelopment of the Tigris and

Euphrates rivers systemair and water pollutionsoil degradation (salination) and

erosiondesertification

EconomyCurrency = dinarMixed economy, mostly marketEconomy is based primarily on the

petroleum market, which is responsible for about 95 % of all the earnings that the country makes

Natural resourcespetroleum, natural gas, phosphates,

sulfurwheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates,

cotton; cattle, sheep, poultry

Major Industrypetroleum, chemicals, textiles, leather,

construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing

History (founding of country) Site of a number of ancient Mesopotamian

civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia

The region fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia (6th century B.C.), Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.), Arabs (7th century), and later to the Ottoman Turks (16th century).

It was established as an independent kingdom in 1921 and became a republic after the assassination (1958) of Faisal II

The British created the kingdom of Iraq in 1921 and occupied Iraq again during World War II (1939 - 1945).

The monarchy was restored following the war, but a revolution caused its downfall in 1958.

Following a series of military coups, the socialist Ba‘ath Party, eventually led by Saddam Hussein, took control and established totalitarian rule in 1968.

The Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 caused extensive death and destruction.

In 2003, during the Iraq War, the Ba‘ath Party was driven from power.

GDP $112 billion $7,200 per capita 25% of population

below poverty level

Population 28,945,569

Literacy rate total population: 74.1%male: 84.1% female: 64.2%

Life expectancy total population: 70 yearsmale: 69 years female: 71 years