Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Jalal Talabani
Population
584,578
31,129,225
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
70.850 years
Capital City
Baghdad
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Baghdad (population: 5,672,510)
Human Development Index
0.591
0
GDP per capita
$3,900 US
Literacy Rate
%
74.1%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
1.3
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
25.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
15.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Legal
Political System
parliamentary democracy
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
3 October 1932 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration); note - on 28 June 2004 the Coalition Provisional Authority transferred sovereignty to the Iraqi-controlled Government
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Muslim 97% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Turkoman (a Turkish dialect), Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic), Armenian
Exports
crude oil 84%, crude materials excluding fuels 8%, food and live animals 5%
External Debt
$50,790,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
New Iraqi dinars (NID) per US dollar - 1,176 (2008), 1,255 (2007), 1,466 (2006), 1,475 (2005), 1,890 (second half, 2003)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
8.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
Area
28,896 km sq
438,317 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
58 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern mountainous 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
