Pre-Trip Information

Social  Demography

The general trajectory of Iraqi population dynamics in modern times can be largely be characterized by urbanization, with a steady movement of people from the rural (especially southern) region to the urban (especially central) region.

 

The basic trends of the 1980s were rooted in the particularly exploitive character of agricultural practices used on the land itself and the people who farmed the land. Declining productivity of the land, stemming from the failure to develop drainage along the irrigation facilities and the living conditions of the producers, resulted in both the depopulation of rural areas and declining productivity in the agricultural sector.

 

After World War II, this urbanization trend was accelerated, and during the war of the 1980s, migration from heavily bombed areas of the south, such as Basra, resulted in the influx of people int o Baghdad. The government, however, tried to deal with the demographic issues by resettling refugees in less populated parts of the country.


Ethnicity

The vast majority of Iraq's more than 37 million people -- approximately 77 percent of the total population -- are Arabs. Arabs are the predominant ethnic group of the Middle East and are believed to have originated in the area of present-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Centuries of intermarriage and migration along caravan routes has resulted in the fact that Arabs cannot be particularly regarded as a pure ethnic group. There is, however, a shared Arab culture in the Middle East, which can be identified in the Arabs of Iraq.

Kurds make up a substantial minority, numbering up to 20 percent of the Iraqi population. Kurds also live in Turkey, Syria and Iran. Once mainly nomadic or semi nomadic, Kurdish society was characterized by a combination of urban centers, villages, and pastoral tribes dating back to the time of the Ottoman period. Historical sources indicate that from the eighteenth century onward Kurds in Iraq were mainly peasants engaged in agriculture and arboriculture. By the nineteenth century, about 20 percent of Iraqi Kurds lived in historic Kurdish cities such as Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, and Irbil. The gradual migration to the cities, particularly of the young intelligentsia, helped nurture Kurdish nationalism. Historically, the Kurds have lived under foreign rule for centuries, and in recent years, there have been attempts to create a sovereign Kurdistan.

The rest of the Iraqi population includes ethnic communities of Turkmen, Lurs, Armenians and Assyrians. Small pockets of Iranians also live along the Iraq-Iran border.


Religion

Islam is the major religion practiced by about 97 percent of the total population. Iraqi Muslims are divided amongst Shi'a and Sunni practitioners; Shi'a Muslims make up the majority Muslim sect in Iraq. There i s also a small Christian minority within the Iraqi population. The Christian churches in the Middle East tend to be patriarchal and hierarchical, often operating with a great deal of independence. Of the Christian population, there is a small surviving Gnostic sect called the Mandeans, who also live in southern Iraq between Baghdad and Basra. This sect is sometimes referred to as the Christians of St. John, although some origins of the religion are thought to pre-date Christianity. There are also Yazidis in the north of Iraq around Mosul. Although close to the Kurdish culture in social structure, this religion is not well accepted by followers of Shi'a and Sunni Islam. Yazidism integrates aspects of Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Reports also suggest that there is a tiny minority of Jews in Baghdad.


Language

Arabic is the official language of Iraq, although Kurdish is officially recognized in Kurdish regions. While Arabic is deri ved form the Afro-Asiatic family of languages, Kurdish is sourced in the Indo-European family of languages. Azerbaijani, Armenian, Assyrian, Farsi, Turkish, and Turkman languages are also spoken. In addition, ethnologists have recorded the use of languages from the other Neo-Aramaic or Neo-Syriac linguistic groups belonging to the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. Indo-European languages such as Behdini, Domani and Luri have also been reported.

Throughout the Arab world, the Arabic language exists in three forms: (1) Classical Arabic of the Koran; (2) the literary language developed from the classical version, which is referred to as Modern Standard Arabic, and which has virtually the same structure wherever used; and (3) the spoken language, which, in Iraq, is Iraqi Arabic. Educated Arabs tend to be bilingual in both Modern Standard Arabic and in their own dialect of spoken Arabic. Even uneducated Arabic speakers, however, can usually understand the meaning of something said in Modern Standard Arabic, although they may be unable to speak the language itself. Classical Arabic, apart from Koranic texts, is predominantly the domain of scholars.


Cultural Diversity and Divisions

The major cultural conflicts in Iraq today are said to center on ethnicity and religion. In recent decades, international attention has been paid to the differences between Iraq's Arab majority and its Kurdish minority who predominate the north of Iraq. Kurds have become increasingly adamant about expressing the distinctiveness of their Kurdish identity, and the need for their own self-government. The politics of this issue remain a matter of debate. In a post-war Iraq, Kurds hope for an autonomous Kurdistan under a federal Iraqi system. They have promised not to pursue absolute independence thus rupturing Iraqi territorial integrity, so long as they are granted strong measures of self-government. Neighboring Turkey has worried that greater Kurdish auton omy would be a threat making the Kurdish issue a contentious one in the region.

In the realm of religion, the major divide lies between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, Although Shi'a Muslims constitute the clear majority in Iraq, the country has been politically controlled by Sunnis, albeit within the context of a secular political system. The schism between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims go back to the death of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, and his desire for his son, Ali, to carry on the Muslim tradition. This result did not occur as planned and over decades, followers of Ali, and his son Hassan, became the predecessors to Shi'a Islam. The central division between the two Muslim sects lies in the Shi'a view that the Caliphate was illegitimate because it did not follow the desires of Mohammed for Ali to lead Muslims. Shi'a Islam over time has become associated with alienation and thus many non-Arab Muslims follow this sect. Martyrdom and self-flagellation are interesting components of Shi'a practice. For their part, Sunnis contend that Shi'a Islam does not follow Koranic principles, as well as associated theological and juridical schools. Indeed, they regard Shi'as as innovators of Islam to a degree. Sunni Islam is fundamentally predicated on the Hadiths (collective sayings and principles of Mohammed) and as such, Sunnis claim to be the correct practitioners of Islam. In practice, the ritual differences between the two sects, such as the importance of the Hadj (pilgrimage to Mecca) have developed over time.

In Iraq, though, despite the frequent references to the Shi'a / Sunni divide, the fact remains that national loyalty has tied these two sects together. National loyalty has not been a constant factor, however, since the 1980s, nationalism has been one of the basic determinants of affiliation. Also noteworthy is the fact that Iraq's Shi'as are Arabs and not from other ethnic groups, and so regardless of sectarian differences, there has been a shared an tipathy of the Persians to the east for many centuries. The Iraqi government has skillfully exploited this age-old enmity in its propaganda, publicizing the war of the 1980s with Iran as part of the ancient struggle between the Arab and Persian empires. The war compelled Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party to integrate Shi'a into Iraqi society for practical purposes. The war placed inordinate demands on the regime for manpower, which could only be met by levying the Shi'a community. Although this process of integration was neither perfect, nor fully manifested, it does suggest that the so-called Shi'a / Sunni divide in Iraq is far more nuanced than is often suggested, and the tension has often been mitigated by national interests.

Perhaps the most overlooked conflict in Iraqi society is between the religious factions of society (regardless of sect) and the secular Ba'athists. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, religious values were present, but always subordinated to the interests of the regime. As Iraq emerges from that regime, there have been reports of Iraqis denouncing the replacement of Saddam Hussein's government with that of Western powers, with declarations that Iraq is a Muslim country. This sort of declaration was largely silenced during the rule of Saddam Hussein, however, it is increasingly being recorded. Indeed, in early discussions of a post-war Iraq, tribal elders, Iraqi exiles, and other interest groups, have expressed differing visions of their future government. Those differences are largely illustrated by divisions between whether or not Iraqi should be a secular nation state.


Human Development

In the realm of human development, the literacy rate for the total population is about 74 percent with the rate for males at 84 percent and a 64 percent rate for females, according to recent estimates. The population of Iraq has generally been well-educated and with a reasonably high literacy rate in comparison with other countries in the region. Iraq has a well-developed public school infrastructure. Typically, there are six years of primary (elementary) education, followed by three years of intermediate secondary, and then, three years of intermediate preparatory education.

Iraq's academic infrastructure is quite sophisticated, with a developed scientific community, 44 teacher training schools and institutes, three colleges and technical institutes, and eight universities, the oldest of which was established in 1957. Each of these institutions has been government owned and operated. Iraq is also home to a number of cultural centers, such as historic museums. In the late 1970s, the numbers of students in technical fields rose by 300 percent, while the number of female student rose by 45 percent. Since the war with Iran in the 1980s, however, the quality of Iraq's educational system was drastically affected. Notably, primary school enrollment, which was an impressive 100 percent in 198 0, had decreased by 15 percent by 1988. The Gulf War and its after-effects further decreased access to education and the quality of education that was provided.

In terms of health and welfare, the infant mortality rate in Iraq is 45.42 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth for the total population is 69.62  years of age  (males: 68.32 years;  females: 70.99 years) . According to various sources, population growth was estimated at 2.7 percent in the last few years, while the fertility rate was estimated to be 4.28 children per woman.

Since the Gulf War of 1991, one of the areas where international embargoes have had the strongest and most deleterious effect is on the health services. As a consequence of sanctions, medication and medical equipment became increasingly difficult to obtain and almost impossible to fund. The destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure in 1991 also had significant effects on public health. Food supplies were drastically decreased, sanitary conditions deteriorated, water quali ty was compromised so that it was sometimes unable to be used in towns. Consequently, the capacity to stop the spreading of diseases was terribly compromised. A survey from April 1997 showed that 27 percent Iraqi children of five years of age or younger suffered from chronic malnutrition as a result of these living conditions. As well, in 2000, UNICEF reported that infant mortality had risen by 160 percent since 1991.

Note:  In recent years,  about   9.7percent of GDP in this country has been spent on health expenditures.  Access to water and sanitation in this country is regarded to be average, with notable obstacles  in rural areas.

 

Human Rights

Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraqis have suffered a catalogue of human rights abuses. Indeed, the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein suppressed several groups. The regime typically used discrimination in public life, at work, and at school to control and organize society at its whim. The regime also arrested and detained countless Iraqis, some of whom remain incommunicado. In addition, the regime tortured Iraqis suspected of crimes, staged trials for those under arrest, and sentenced prisoners to extended imprisonment -- usually under terrible conditions. Execution using horrendous methodology was also customary.

 

Most of the people persecuted in Iraq were opponents of the ruling regime as free speech in Iraq under Saddam Hussein was severely curtailed. The legal system of Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein did not comply with international jurisprudence, and the judges and other legal practitioners were often military officers and civil servants without adequate training in matters of law.

 

Human rights conditions in Kurdish areas were generally better than those elsewhere in Iraq because of the lack of control over Kurdish areas by Saddam Hussein's regime.

As of 2007, in a country wracked by ongoing violence and instability, and with power-brokers seeking to assert their authority, human rights groups have continued to decry the state of human rights in Iraq.  In 2005, 170 people were discovered at an Interior Minister detention center -- most of them reportedly suffering from starvation and other forms of abuse. The matter gave rise to questions about the moral authority of the new Iraqi leadership. The revelation of apparent torture of political detainees at the hands of United States-led coalition forces at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison contributed to the argument that human rights abuses continue to characterize the Iraqi political landscape, regardless of those in power. 

 

Indeed, in a November 2005 interview with the United Kingdom's Observer, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the current level of human rights abuses in Iraq was similar to that of the period under Saddam Hussein's regime.  Allawi made the remarks while calling for immediate action on recent allegations of torture. In response, President Jalal Talabani dismissed the charge as "nonsense" and pointed to the number of democratic rights that Iraqis had attained in the post-Saddam Hussein era. He also said that current abuses could not be compared with the exterminations, evidenced by mass graves, which took place under the regime of the former Iraqi president.  

 

Clearly, Shi'as and Kurds, who suffered under the regime of Saddam Hussein, did not take kindly to Allawi's remarks.  Nevertheless, his words likely resonated with Sunnis, who have accused the new Iraqi government of torturing detainees.