Iraq

B

Political Divisions

Iraq was formerly divided into 18 provinces, of which 3 were designated as Kurdish autonomous regions. Each province was headed by a centrally appointed governor. Iraq occupied and annexed Kuwait as its 19th province from August 1990 to February 1991.

C

Principal Cities

Baghdad is the capital and largest city, with a population of 4,797,000 (2000 estimate). Other major cities include Basra, population 406,296 (1987), the only seaport, located on the Shatt Al Arab near the head of the Persian Gulf, and Mosul, 1,034,000 (2000 estimate), an oil and manufacturing centre.

D

Religion

Approximately 95 per cent of the people of Iraq are Muslims. About 60 per cent of them adhere to Shiism and the rest to the Sunni creed. The Shiites mostly live in central and southern Iraq, the Sunni principally in the north and west. Despite their numerical superiority, the Shiites, unlike in neighbouring Iran, had hardly any influence on government in the period before the War on Iraq. Several of the holy cities of the Shiites, notably An Najaf and Karbalā’, are situated in Iraq. Many Shiites of Iranian origin live in these shrine cities. Among the few Christian sects in Iraq, which comprise 2.7 per cent of the population, are communities practising Nestorianism; the Jacobite Church; offshoots of these two sects, respectively known as Chaldean and Syrian Catholics; and a group known as the Mandaean Baptists living in Baghdad and Amara. In total there are about 519,000 Christians in Iraq. The former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz is a Christian. Smaller religious groups include the Yazidis (150,000), a uniquely Kurdish syncretic sect who live in the northern mountains.

E

Language

Standard Arabic is the primary official language, while Kurdish (or “Kurdi”), an Indo-Iranian language, shares official status in Kurdish areas (mainly Sulamanya) of Iraq. Standard Arabic is a second language, learnt in schools and used in official domains. The more popular forms of Arabic are Mesopotamian Spoken and North Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic, which combined are mother tongues for the majority of the population. Several minority languages are spoken, including South Azerbaijani, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Western Farsi, and Domari.

F

Education

Education in Iraq is free. Six years of primary education are compulsory, but many children in rural areas do not attend schools because facilities are not available. Instruction is mostly in Arabic, although Kurdish is used in schools in some northern districts. About 41.1 per cent of Iraqis aged 15 or older are literate. In 1998–1999 3,128,358 pupils attended 8,145 primary schools, and 619,114 students were enrolled in around 4,000 secondary schools. In addition, about 135,700 students attended 310 vocational or teacher-training institutions. Iraq has 15 universities: Al-Mustansiriyah University (1963), University of Baghdad (1958), Al-Nahrain (previously Saddam) University (1988), and the University of Technology (1960), all in Baghdad; as well as further universities in Basra, Irbīl, Mosul, and Tikrit. The country also has a number of technical institutes. Approximately 202,000 students were enrolled in institutions of higher education in 1995. In 1993, 5.1 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.

Many schools were looted, burned, or destroyed during the war and its aftermath. The Coalition Provisional Authority estimated that 2,500 schools were reconstructed after the end of the war and that school attendance returned to pre-war levels. More than 30,000 new teachers have been trained. The newly established Ministry of Education took over control of education in Iraq from early 2004.